燕雀安んぞ鴻鵠の志を知らんや

Japanese
Kanji in this term
燕 雀 安 鴻 鵠 志 知
えん
Jinmeiyō		 じゃく
Jinmeiyō		 いずく
Grade: 3		 こう
Jinmeiyō		 こく
Hyōgaiji		 こころざし
Grade: 5		 し
Grade: 2
kan’on kun’yomi kan’on kun’yomi

Etymology

From the 史記 (Shiki, “Records of the Grand Historian”).[1][2][3]

Calque of Literary Chinese 燕雀安知鴻鵠志 (yànquè ān zhī hónghú zhì, literally “[small birds such as] swallows and sparrows cannot understand the aspirations of [large birds such as] swans”).

Proverb

燕(えん)雀(じゃく)安(いずく)んぞ鴻(こう)鵠(こく)の志(こころざし)を知(し)らんや • (enjaku izukunzo kōkoku no kokorozashi o shiran'ya) 

  1. an ordinary person cannot understand the ambitions of a great man

Derived terms
  • 鴻鵠(こうこく)の志(こころざし) (kōkoku no kokorozashi)

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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