猿猴月を取る

えんこうつきをとる

Meanings

1. Expression, Godan verb to try and reach above one's station and fail; to try and accomplish something beyond one's abilities and fail (literally: a monkey tries to catch the moon (and drowns)) See also: 猿猴捉月 (えんこうそくげつ).

Kanji

• 猿 monkey. Read as エン.
• 猴 monkey. Read as コウ.
• 月 moon. Read as つき.
• 取 take. Read as とる.

Word lists

• Idioms

Jinuma: Japanese Dictionary · Word lists