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井底之蛙 — a narrow worldview: chengyu story and meaning

井底之蛙 — Someone whose experience is so narrow that they mistake their small circle for the whole world. Often used as a humble warning against judging what you have never seen.

Literal meaning

the frog at the bottom of the well

Source

Zhuangzi (4th–3rd century BCE), Autumn Floods chapter

When to use it

Said of parochial judgment, e.g. dismissing a foreign cuisine without ever tasting it.

The story

The frog at the bottom of a well told the great turtle of the Eastern Sea how fine his life was: he could hop along the rim, rest in the cracks, paddle in water that reached his chin, and eat the insects that fell in — no happiness could compare. The turtle tried to describe the ocean: a thousand miles does not measure its width, eight hundred fathoms does not measure its depth, and floods and droughts never change it. The little frog sat stunned and fell silent. Zhuangzi uses the pair to show that every view is bounded by where its holder lives — including, the text hints, our own.

Example

Characters

• 井
• 底
• 之
• 蛙

More chengyu stories

• 畫蛇添足 (waak6 se4 tim1 zuk1) — To spoil something good by adding what it does not need. Used when extra touches make a finished job worse, not better.
• 守株待兔 (sau2 zyu1 doi6 tou3) — To hope lightning strikes twice instead of working for what you want. Used for people who copy a one-off lucky break instead of adapting.
• 亡羊補牢 (mong4 joeng4 bou2 lou4) — Losses already taken are a reason to fix the cause, not to give up. Used to encourage action after a failure: repair the hole, then carry on.
• 掩耳盜鈴 (jim2 ji5 dou6 ling4) — To pretend a problem does not exist by blocking out the evidence, in a way that fools nobody but yourself. Used for self-deception that is obvious to everyone else.

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