庖丁解牛

páodīng-jiěniú

idiom

Meanings

1 Cook Ding carving the ox
2 effortless mastery that comes from long practice

Characters

Ding (the cook's name)

Examples

HSK 6

他分析问题如庖丁解牛，几句话就把复杂的局面讲清楚了。

Tā fēnxī wèntí rú páodīng-jiěniú, jǐ jù huà jiù bǎ fùzá de júmiàn jiǎng qīngchu le.

He takes problems apart like Cook Ding carving an ox, laying out a complicated situation clearly in a few sentences.

HSK 7-9

老师傅修车就像庖丁解牛，几分钟就修好了。

Lǎoshīfu xiū chē jiù xiàng páodīng-jiěniú, jǐ fēnzhōng jiù xiūhǎo le.

The old mechanic fixes cars with effortless mastery: a few minutes and the job is done.

Tips

history

From the chapter 养生主 of the Zhuangzi: Cook Ding carves an ox for Lord Wenhui so smoothly that it sounds like music. After nineteen years and thousands of oxen his blade is as sharp as new, because he no longer sees the whole ox, only the gaps between its joints. The same story gave 游刃有余 and 目无全牛.

Stroke Order

庖 páo

丁 dīng

解 jiě

牛 niú