HSK 7–9 vocabularyHSK 3.0

刻舟求剑

kèzhōu-qiújiàn

Traditional: 刻舟求劍

lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom); fig. an action made pointless by changed circumstances

HSK 7–9
HSK 7–9 flashcards →Quiz

Meaning of 刻舟求剑 in English

kèzhōu-qiújiànHSK 7–9Syllabus #7764
  1. lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom); fig. an action made pointless by changed circumstances

Characters

刻 on its own →
kè · classifier for short time intervals

HSK words with 刻

刻HSK 3立刻HSK 5深刻HSK 5时刻HSK 5此刻HSK 6片刻HSK 6雕刻HSK 7–9苛刻HSK 7–9刻画HSK 7–9刻苦HSK 7–9
Tap the character to see its stroke order

HSK words with 舟

同舟共济HSK 7–9
求 on its own →
qiú · to seek

HSK words with 求

要求HSK 3请求HSK 5需求HSK 5追求HSK 5求HSK 6求婚HSK 6求救HSK 6求职HSK 6求助HSK 6寻求HSK 6
剑 on its own →
jiàn · double-edged sword

HSK words with 剑

剑HSK 6

Level, pinyin and part of speech: HSK Syllabus (CLEC, Nov 2025). Definitions: CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources & licences