九折臂

jiǔzhébì

idiom

Meanings

1 to break one's arm nine times
2 hard-won expertise, experience gained through repeated setbacks
3 through trial and error one becomes an expert

Characters

nine, many times

Examples

他创业失败多次，九折臂而后成医。

Tā chuàngyè shībài duō cì, jiǔ zhé bì ér hòu chéng yī.

He failed at startups many times — you don't become a master without a few broken bones.

所谓九折臂，病人反而比医生更懂自己的身体。

Suǒwèi jiǔ zhé bì, bìngrén fǎn'ér bǐ yīshēng gèng dǒng zìjǐ de shēntǐ.

As the saying goes, break your arm nine times and you'll know more about your own body than the doctor does.

Tips

history

From Qu Yuan's 《九章·惜诵》: 九折臂而成医 — 'break your arm nine times and you become a physician.' The image: repeated injury and repeated treatment teach you the medicine better than any textbook.

Stroke Order

九 jiǔ

折 zhé

臂 bì