知之甚少

zhīzhī-shènshǎo

idiom #24,841

Meanings

1 to know very little about
2 to have limited knowledge of

Characters

it; of (classical particle)

very; extremely

Examples

HSK 5

我对量子力学知之甚少。

Wǒ duì liàngzǐ lìxué zhīzhī-shènshǎo.

I know very little about quantum mechanics.

HSK 6

他对这个地区的历史知之甚少，所以犯了很多错误。

Tā duì zhège dìqū de lìshǐ zhīzhī-shènshǎo, suǒyǐ fàn le hěnduō cuòwù.

He knew very little about the region's history and thus made many mistakes.

HSK 7-9

我们对宇宙的起源仍然知之甚少。

Wǒmen duì yǔzhòu de qǐyuán réngrán zhīzhī-shènshǎo.

We still know very little about the origin of the universe.

Tips

grammar

知之甚少 follows the classical pattern: 知 (know) + 之 (it / object marker) + 甚 (very / extremely) + 少 (little / few). The 之 refers back to the topic being discussed, often introduced by 对.

Stroke Order

知 zhī

之 zhī

甚 shèn

少 shǎo