大材小用

النطق: dà cái xiǎo yòng المعنى الحرفي: Big talent small use

الأصل والاستخدام

This idiom describes big (大) talent (材) being given small (小) use (用) - wasting capable people on trivial tasks. The phrase criticizes poor resource allocation that underutilizes valuable abilities. It appeared in texts discussing governance and personnel management. The idiom values matching abilities to appropriate challenges. Modern usage describes situations where qualified individuals are assigned tasks far below their capabilities, wasting both their potential and organizational resources.

أمثلة

الإنجليزية: "Assigning a senior engineer to simple data entry is a waste of talent."

الصينية: 让高级工程师做简单的数据录入是大材小用。