钻牛角

Traditional form:

鑽牛角

Pinyin (reading):

zuānniújiǎo

Definitions:

• lit. honing a bull's horn; fig. to waste time on an insoluble or insignificant problem
• to bash one's head against a brick wall
• a wild goose chase
• a blind alley
• to split hairs
• same as idiom 鑽牛角尖／钻牛角尖

Characters:

• 钻 - diamond; to bore, to drill, to pierce
• 牛 - ox, cow, bull
• 角 - angle, corner; horn, horn-shaped

Traditional characters:

• 鑽 - diamond; to bore, to drill, to pierce
• 牛 - ox, cow, bull
• 角 - angle, corner; horn, horn-shaped