鼎鐺玉石 dǐng chēng yù shí

DEFINITIONS

  1. lit. to use a sacred tripod as cooking pot and jade as ordinary stone (idiom); fig. a waste of precious material
  2. casting pearls before swine

CHARACTERS

鼎 dǐng large, three-legged bronze caldron
鐺 chēng frying pan; warming vessel
玉 yù
HSK 5
jade, precious stone, gem
石 shí
HSK 5
stone, rock, mineral; rad. 112