put a round peg in a square hole

put a round peg in a square hole

Square peg, round chisel, pronunciation f ā ngru ì Yu á NZ á o, Chinese idiom, square tenon; circular mortise. Metaphor is out of place, incompatible and inappropriate. It's also said that round chisels and square pegs. It comes from Jiubian written by Song Yu of Chu in the Warring States period.

explain

[interpretation] PEG: tenon; chisel: mortise; mortise. A square mortise; a circular mortise. Metaphor is out of place, incompatible and inappropriate.

source

It was first seen in Wenzi (also known as tongxuan Zhenjing): "today, as a scholar, he follows the principle of first learning, holding the books and keeping the grammar. If he wants to govern, he still holds a square peg and a round chisel inside. It's hard to be suitable." In the Warring States period, Chu and Song Yu's Jiu Bian: "round chisels and square pegs, I firmly know that they are difficult to enter because of their discord." When people use wood to make utensils, the mortise is called chisel, and the tenon is called peg. The size and shape of chisel and PEG must be exactly the same before they can be properly assembled. (the square tenon can't be fixed in the circular mortise). Later, this idiom is used to refer to two sides' disagreement, incompatibility, poor cooperation and incompatibility. A word opposite to it is called "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao" (Ding refers to tenon). It is about doing things seriously and meticulously. Song Yu uses the figurative metaphor of round chisel and square peg to illustrate that Qu Yuan's broad political views and the shortsightedness of slanderous villains are bound to be irreconcilable

Discrimination of words

[idiom structure] combined type [near synonym] is out of place and quite different [antonym] is close to the point [square peg round chisel "is often wrongly written as" square round chisel ", which should be noted. 】Out of office

usage

Metaphor is out of place, incompatible and inappropriate

Related ancient prose

According to the biography of Mencius and Xunqing in historical records, Wang Hui of Liang Dynasty planned to attack Zhao, and Meng Ke called him Wang Quying If you hold a square peg and want to chisel inside, can you enter? "