画虎类犬

畫虎類犬
huàhǔlèiquǎn
  1. to try to draw a tiger but end up with a likeness of a dog (idiom)
  2. to try to do sth overambitious and end up botching it

CEDICT

short for 畫虎不成反類犬／画虎不成反类犬 (huà hǔ bùchéng fǎn lèi quǎn)

Wiktionary

比喻企慕高远却无法做到。参见「画虎不成反类狗」条。

重編國語辭典

Entry Composition

1 画 huà
  1. to draw; to paint
  2. to draw (a line) (variant of 划 huà)
  3. stroke of a Chinese character (variant of 划 huà)
  4. (calligraphy) horizontal stroke (variant of 划 huà)

classifiers: 幅, 張
2 虎 hǔ tiger

classifier: 隻
3 类 lèi
  1. kind; type; class; category
  2. (classifier) kind; type
  3. (bound form) to resemble; to be similar to
4 犬 quǎn
  1. (literary) dog
  2. Kangxi radical 94

Related entries

画虎不成反类犬 huàhǔbùchéngfǎnlèiquǎn
  1. to try to draw a tiger but end up with a likeness of a dog (idiom)
  2. to try to do sth overambitious and end up botching it