读书破万卷

讀書破萬卷

dúshūpòwànjuàn

phrase

Meanings

1 to read through ten thousand scrolls
2 to read so voraciously that one wears out ten thousand volumes
3 lit. read books — wear through — ten thousand scrolls

Characters

to break, wear through

Examples

读书破万卷，下笔如有神。

Dú shū pò wàn juàn, xià bǐ rú yǒu shén.

Read ten thousand scrolls through, and the brush will move as if guided by a spirit.

她读书破万卷，写作自然行云流水。

Tā dú shū pò wàn juàn, xiězuò zìrán xíngyún-liúshuǐ.

She has read through ten thousand scrolls, so her writing flows naturally.

Tips

history

From Du Fu's (杜甫, Tang dynasty) 《奉赠韦左丞丈二十二韵》, describing his own early training: 读书破万卷，下笔如有神 — 'Read to the point of wearing through ten thousand scrolls, and the brush, when it touches paper, moves as if divinely inspired.' The couplet became the motto for every reading-to-write argument in Chinese education.

usage

Almost always cited with its twin 下笔如有神. 破 here = 'to wear through, break in' — reading scrolls until the bamboo-strip bindings fall apart. 卷 = the classical measure for a scroll.

Stroke Order

读 dú

书 shū

破 pò

万 wàn

卷 juǎn