殺雞焉用牛刀

See also: 杀鸡焉用牛刀

Chinese

		to kill; to murder; to slaughter	fowl; chicken	where; how	to use	an ox cleaver; a cleaver for butchering oxen
trad. (殺雞焉用牛刀/殺鷄焉用牛刀)		殺	雞/鷄	焉	用	牛刀
simp. (杀鸡焉用牛刀)		杀	鸡	焉	用	牛刀
Literally: “Why use an ox cleaver to kill a chicken?”.

Etymology

See 割雞焉用牛刀／割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdāo).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): shā jī yān yòng niúdāo

(Zhuyin): ㄕㄚㄐㄧㄧㄢㄩㄥˋ ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄉㄠ
Cantonese (Jyutping): saat³ gai¹ jin¹ jung⁶ ngau⁴ dou¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: shā jī yān yòng niúdāo
  - Zhuyin: ㄕㄚㄐㄧㄧㄢㄩㄥˋ ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄉㄠ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: sha ji yan yòng nióudao
  - Wade–Giles: sha¹ chi¹ yen¹ yung⁴ niu²-tao¹
  - Yale: shā jī yān yùng nyóu-dāu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sha ji ian yonq nioudau
  - Palladius: ша цзи янь юн нюдао (ša czi janʹ jun njudao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂä⁵⁵ t͡ɕi⁵⁵ jɛn⁵⁵ jʊŋ⁵¹ ni̯oʊ̯³⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: saat³ gai¹ jin¹ jung⁶ ngau⁴ dou¹
  - Yale: saat gāi yīn yuhng ngàuh dōu
  - Cantonese Pinyin: saat⁸ gai¹ jin¹ jung⁶ ngau⁴ dou¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: sad³ gei¹ yin¹ yung⁶ ngeo⁴ dou¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /saːt̚³ kɐi̯⁵⁵ jiːn⁵⁵ jʊŋ²² ŋɐu̯²¹ tou̯⁵⁵/

Proverb

殺雞焉用牛刀

(rhetorical question) synonym of 割雞焉用牛刀 / 割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdaō)
- 除此之外有時候因應某些特殊的需求，製作出簡單的應用程式，應用程式可能只會執行一次，或者永遠只應付一種需求，殺雞焉用牛刀，寫死來縮短開發的時間，也是一種不錯的決策。 [MSC, trad.]
  除此之外有时候因应某些特殊的需求，制作出简单的应用程式，应用程式可能只会执行一次，或者永远只应付一种需求，杀鸡焉用牛刀，写死来缩短开发的时间，也是一种不错的决策。 [MSC, simp.]
  From: 2007: anon., Hard coding (寫死)
  Chú cǐ zhī wài yǒu shíhòu yīn yìng mǒu xiē tèshū de xūqiú, zhìzuò chū jiǎndān de yìngyòngchéngshì, yìngyòngchéngshì kěnéng zhǐ huì zhíxíng yīcì, huòzhě yǒngyuǎn zhǐ yìngfù yī zhǒng xūqiú, shā jī yān yòng niúdāo, xiěsǐ lái suōduǎn kāifā de shíjiān, yě shì yī zhǒng bùcuò de juécè. [Pinyin]
  Besides this, there are times when one creates a simple application in order to meet a special requirement. Perhaps the application will only be run once, or will never doing anything else but that one task. In such cases, why use an ox cleaver to kill a chicken? In terms of shortening development time, hard coding would not be a bad strategy.

Synonyms

割雞焉用牛刀／割鸡焉用牛刀 (gējī yān yòng niúdāo)