刻舟求剑

刻舟求劍
kèzhōuqiújiàn
lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom); fig. an action made pointless by changed circumstances

CEDICT

Entry Composition

1 刻 kè
  1. quarter (hour)
  2. moment
  3. to carve
  4. to engrave
  5. to cut
  6. oppressive
  7. classifier for short time intervals
2 舟 zhōu boat
3 求 qiú
  1. to seek
  2. to look for
  3. to request
  4. to demand
  5. to beseech
=4 剑 jiàn
  1. double-edged sword
  2. classifier for blows of a sword

classifiers: 口, 把
=4 剑 jiàn variant of 剑 jiàn