yuán
qiú

idiom
literary
common

Meaning of 缘木求鱼

缘木求鱼 means to climb a tree to catch fish; to adopt a futile approach; to use wrong methods to achieve a goal. Pronounced yuán mù qiú yú.

  • to climb a tree to catch fish; to adopt a futile approach; to use wrong methods to achieve a goal

Definitions & Examples

guān
guī
 
wèi
mán
gàn
 
yuán
qiú
 

Ignoring objective laws and acting recklessly is no different from climbing a tree to catch fish.

Yòng
zhè
zhǒng
fāng
jiě
jué
wèn
 
jiǎn
zhí
shì
yuán
qiú
 

Using this method to solve the problem is simply adopting a futile approach.

xiǎng
zài
dào
bāng
zhù
 
jiǎn
zhí
shì
yuán
qiú
 

Trying to get help from him is like climbing a tree to catch fish—utterly futile.