- lit. to refrain from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vases (idiom)
- to not act against an evil so as to prevent harm to innocents
Characters
- 投 (投): to cast; to send; to throw oneself (into the river etc); to seek refuge; to place oneself into the hands of
- 鼠 (鼠): (bound form) rat; mouse
- 忌 (忌): to be jealous of; fear; dread; scruple; to avoid or abstain from; to quit; to give up sth
- 器 (器): device; tool; utensil; CL:臺|台[tai2]
Resources
- Wiktionary: 投鼠忌器
- MDBG: 投鼠忌器
- Examples with 投鼠忌器 on Tatoeba
Examples
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