孤陋寡闻

孤陋寡聞

gūlòu-guǎwén

idiom HSK 7 #38,516

Meanings

1 ignorant and ill-informed
2 having limited knowledge and narrow experience

Characters

isolated; alone

to hear; knowledge

Literally 'isolated and crude, with little heard' — describing someone who is sheltered and lacks knowledge of the wider world.

Examples

我孤陋寡闻，还真没听说过这件事。

Wǒ gūlòu-guǎwén, hái zhēn méi tīngshuō guo zhè jiàn shì.

I'm poorly informed — I really hadn't heard about this.

是我孤陋寡闻了，原来这个品牌这么有名。

Shì wǒ gūlòu-guǎwén le, yuánlái zhège pǐnpái zhème yǒumíng.

I must be out of the loop — I didn't realize this brand was so famous.

Tips

usage

This idiom is almost always used as a humble self-deprecation: 我孤陋寡闻 ('I'm poorly informed') when admitting you didn't know something. It's rarely used to criticize others directly, as that would be very blunt.

Stroke Order

孤 gū

陋 lòu

寡 guǎ

闻 wén