えんこうつき
Meanings
Expression
Verb (5-dan, る)
Idiomatic
1. to try and reach above one's station and fail; to try and accomplish something beyond one's abilities and fail; (lit.) a monkey tries to catch the moon (and drowns)
Kanji used
monkey
???
moon
take
Composed of
monkey (esp. a gibbon); hand of the puppeteer (puppet theatre); kappa; (arch.) menstrual period
moon; month
to take; to pick up; to pass; to hand; to get; to obtain; to adopt (a method, proposal, etc.)