CHENGYU
刻舟求剑(kè zhōu qiú jiàn)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- literary
- Source:
- 《吕氏春秋·察今》
MEANING
- Literal
- to mark the boat to find the sword
- Figurative meaning
- to cling to fixed thinking while the situation changes
ORIGIN STORY
A man of Chu dropped his sword overboard and notched the boat to mark the spot. When the boat stopped, he dived from the notch — but the boat had long moved on.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“to fight the last war”
EXAMPLES
情况变了，我们不能刻舟求剑。Qíngkuàng biàn le, wǒmen bù néng kè zhōu qiú jiàn.HSK6
Things have changed; we cannot cling to the old plan.
还用老办法解决新问题，就是刻舟求剑。Hái yòng lǎo bànfǎ jiějué xīn wèntí, jiù shì kè zhōu qiú jiàn.HSK6
Using old methods for new problems is marking the boat to find the sword.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: It criticizes rigid thinking, not persistence or careful marking in general.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-14
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01