燕雀安んぞ鴻鵠の志を知らんや

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 Hyōgai 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)

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

“▲燕▲雀△安んぞ▲鴻▲鵠の志を知らんや”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025