三脚猫

三腳貓
sānjiǎomāo
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 a dabbler, jack of all trades and master of none
  2. 2 someone with only a superficial grasp of many skills

Examples

Tā xuéle bùshǎo dōngxi, kě dōu shì sānjiǎomāo, yàngyàng bù jīng.
He's learned a lot of things, but he's a jack of all trades and master of none.
Wǒ zhè diǎn gōngfu shì sānjiǎomāo, zài zhuānjiā miànqián bù gǎn bān mén nòng fǔ.
My kung fu is strictly amateur; I wouldn't dare show off in front of experts.

Tips

memory
Picture a three-legged cat: it can still walk, but clumsily. Same with a three-legged-cat skill — it works, barely, but nothing to brag about.

Stroke Order

sān
jiǎo
māo