Meaning of 窮鼠(きゅうそ) in Japanese

Reading and JLPT level 窮鼠

Kana Reading きゅうそ

Romaji kyūso

Parts of speech

noun (common) (futsuumeishi)

Meaning

cornered rat or mouse

Examples of 窮鼠, きゅうそ in a sentence

窮鼠猫をかむ。

A cornered rat will bite a cat.
あいつ追いつめられたら何するか分からないぞ。窮鼠猫を噛むってこともあるからな。気を付けるに越したことはない。

I wouldn't push him too far. You don't know what he might do. I'd say you can't be too careful. They say even a doomed mouse will bite a cat if he has no choice.

Related Kanji

窮 JLPT 1

15 strokes

hard up, destitute, suffer, perplexed, cornered

On'Yomi: キュウ, キョウ

Kun'Yomi: きわ.める, きわ.まる, きわ.まり, きわ.み

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鼠

13 strokes

rat, mouse, dark gray

On'Yomi: ソ, ショ

Kun'Yomi: ねずみ, ねず

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