割鸡焉用牛刀

gē jī yān yòng niú dāo

lit. why use a pole-ax to slaughter a chicken? (idiom)

fig. to waste effort on a trifling matter; also written 殺雞焉用牛刀|杀鸡焉用牛刀[sha1 ji1 yan1 yong4 niu2 dao1]

割

gē

to cut

鸡

jī

variant of 雞|鸡[ji1]

焉

yān

where

用

yòng

to use; to make use of; to employ

牛

niú

ox

刀

dāo

knife; blade; single-edged sword; cutlass (CL:把[ba3])