HSK 7–9 vocabularyHSK 3.0

对牛弹琴

duìniú-tánqín

Traditional: 對牛彈琴

lit. to play the lute to a cow (idiom)

HSK 7–9
HSK 7–9 flashcards →Quiz

Meaning of 对牛弹琴 in English

duìniú-tánqínHSK 7–9Syllabus #6393
  1. lit. to play the lute to a cow (idiom)
  2. fig. offering a treat to an unappreciative audience
  3. caviar to the general
  4. to cast pearls before swine
  5. to preach to deaf ears
  6. to talk over sb's head

Characters

对 on its own →
duì · classifier: couple; pair

HSK words with 对

对HSK 1对不起HSK 1对话HSK 3对方HSK 4对面HSK 4对于HSK 4反对HSK 4面对HSK 4对比HSK 5对待HSK 5

HSK words with 牛

牛奶HSK 1牛HSK 3牛仔裤HSK 5吹牛HSK 7–9
弹 on its own →
tán · to pluck (a string)

HSK words with 弹

弹HSK 4弹性HSK 6导弹HSK 7–9动弹HSK 7–9反弹HSK 7–9炸弹HSK 7–9子弹HSK 7–9
琴 on its own →
qín · guqin 古琴[gu3 qin2] (a type of zither)

HSK words with 琴

琴HSK 4钢琴HSK 4小提琴HSK 7–9琴棋书画HSK 7–9

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