水中撈月

See also: 水中捞月

Chinese
water; river
 
middle; center; within; among; in; while (doing sth); during; China; Chinese; hit (the mark)
 fish up moon; month
trad. (水中撈月) 水 中 撈 月
simp. (水中捞月) 水 中 捞 月
variant forms 水中捉月
水底摸月
海中撈月／海中捞月
海底撈月／海底捞月
Literally: “to scoop (the reflection of) the moon out of the water”.

Pronunciation
  • Mandarin
  • Cantonese
    • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
      • Jyutping: seoi2 zung1 laau4 jyut6, seoi2 zung1 laau1 jyut6, seoi2 zung1 lou4 jyut6
      • Yale: séui jūng làauh yuht, séui jūng lāau yuht, séui jūng lòuh yuht
      • Cantonese Pinyin: soey2 dzung1 laau4 jyt9, soey2 dzung1 laau1 jyt9, soey2 dzung1 lou4 jyt9
      • Guangdong Romanization: sêu2 zung1 lao4 yud6, sêu2 zung1 lao1 yud6, sêu2 zung1 lou4 yud6
      • IPA (key): /sɵy̯³⁵ t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ laːu̯²¹ jyːt̚²/, /sɵy̯³⁵ t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ laːu̯⁵⁵ jyːt̚²/, /sɵy̯³⁵ t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ lou̯²¹ jyːt̚²/

Idiom

水中撈月

  1. (figuratively) to make a hopeless, futile or vain effort at doing something; to ask for the moon
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