鹦鹉学舌

鸚鵡學舌
yīngwǔ-xuéshé
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 to parrot
  2. 2 to repeat others' words without understanding

Examples

HSK 3
Xiǎoháizi shuōhuà chángcháng shì yīngwǔ-xuéshé, dàren shuō shénme tā jiù shuō shénme.
Small children often parrot: whatever the adults say, they say too.
HSK 7-9
Tā de wénzhāng zhǐshì yīngwǔ-xuéshé, méiyou yìdiǎn zìjǐ de jiànjiě.
His essay just parrots others and has no ideas of its own.

Tips

history
From the 《景德传灯录》, a Song-dynasty Chan Buddhist collection: a master says that reciting scripture without grasping the Buddha's meaning is like a parrot that learns people's words but not their meaning. Compare 人云亦云, to echo the crowd.

Stroke Order

鹦 yīng
鹉 wǔ
学 xué
舌 shé