龜毛兔角

Chinese

tortoise; turtle hair; fur; one tenth of a yuan or dollar rabbit
horn; angle; role
horn; angle; role; actor; contend; horn-shaped; Chinese musical note
 
trad. (龜毛兔角) 龜 毛 兔 角
simp. (龟毛兔角) 龟 毛 兔 角
Literally: “tortoise's fur and rabbit's horn”.

Etymology

From In Search of the Sacred, Volume VI:

商紂之時，大龜生毛，兔生角，兵甲將興之象也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
商纣之时，大龟生毛，兔生角，兵甲将兴之象也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: In Search of the Sacred, circa 3rd century CE
Shāng Zhòu zhī shí, dà guī shēng máo, tù shēng jiǎo, bīngjiǎ jiāng xīng zhī xiàng yě. [Pinyin]
In the period of King Zhou of Shang, there appeared a big turtle with hair and a rabbit with horns. These were omens of war.

Later it became prevalent in Buddhist texts.

Pronunciation

Idiom

龜毛兔角

  1. an impossibility
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