刻鹄类鹜 kè hú lèi wù

to fail utterly in trying to copy something

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency Unknown

Definitions

  1. 1. to fail utterly in trying to copy something
  2. 2. to aim to carve a swan and get a semblance of a duck (idiom)
  3. 3. to get a reasonably good, if not perfect, result

Characters

Character Meaning
quarter (hour); moment; to carve
goal; target
kind; type; category
duck