甘井先ず竭く

Kanji in this term

甘 かん Grade: S

井 せい Grade: 4

先 ま Grade: 1

竭 つ Hyōgai (hors joyo)

Etymology

Calque of Literary Chinese 甘井先竭 (gānjǐngxiānjié), from 莊子/山木. Literally “a sweet well is the first to be exhausted”, because the sweet well has many users.[1]

Proverb

甘かん井せい先まず竭つく • (kansei mazu tsuku)

highly-skilled men are the first to be exhausted

References

“甘井△先ず▲竭く”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025