生吞活剥 — “Swallow raw and skin alive”
生吞活剥 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to accept or apply knowledge, experiences, or theories rigidly and without real understanding; to mechanically copy or plagiarize; to appropriate crudely”. Literally, “swallow raw and skin alive”.
生吞活剥 Pronunciation and Pinyin
- 生shēng
- 吞tūn
- 活huó
- 剥bō
生吞活剥 Character Breakdown
Example Sentence with 生吞活剥
Origin and Story of 生吞活剥
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, there was an official named Zhang Huaiqing in Zaoqiang, Hebei. Despite his lack of scholarly attainment, he enjoyed dabbling in literature. He would take Li Yifu's five-character poems and crudely add two characters to each line, presenting them as his own seven-character poems, which often made people laugh.
When others witnessed him plagiarizing poems from renowned poets like Wang Changling and Guo Zhenyi, they created a popular saying to mock his blatant copying: “He skins Wang Changling alive and swallows Guo Zhenyi raw.” This phrase later evolved into the idiom “生吞活剥” (shēng tūn huó bō).
Idioms Related to 生吞活剥
Synonyms of 生吞活剥
Antonyms of 生吞活剥
More idioms starting with 生
- shēng生shàng上qǐ起xià下Connect preceding to following
- shēng生bù不rú如sǐ死life is worse than death
- shēng生bù不féng逢chǎng场Born at an inopportune time
- shēng生bù不féng逢shí时born at the wrong time
- shēng生bù不féng逢chén辰born at an unlucky time
- shēng生bù不yù遇shí时born at an unfortunate time
- shēng生shì事wēi微miǎo渺precarious and meager livelihood
- shēng生shì事rǎo扰mín民cause trouble and disturb the public
- shēng生yú于yōu忧huàn患ér而sǐ死yú于ān安lè乐Adversity fosters survival, ease leads to ruin
- shēng生yú于yōu忧huàn患，，sǐ死yú于yì逸lè乐adversity spurs survival, ease brings ruin
- shēng生rén人tú涂tàn炭people plunged into extreme misery
- shēng生zhòng众shí食guǎ寡abundant production and sparse consumption
Questions about 生吞活剥
- What does 生吞活剥 mean?
- 生吞活剥 (shēng tūn huó bō) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to accept or apply knowledge, experiences, or theories rigidly and without real understanding; to mechanically copy or plagiarize; to appropriate crudely”.
- How do you pronounce 生吞活剥?
- 生吞活剥 is pronounced shēng tūn huó bō in Mandarin Chinese.
- What does 生吞活剥 literally mean?
- Literally, 生吞活剥 means “swallow raw and skin alive”. It is used to mean “to accept or apply knowledge, experiences, or theories rigidly and without real understanding; to mechanically copy or plagiarize; to appropriate crudely”.
- Where does 生吞活剥 come from?
- 生吞活剥 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
- What is the Chinese definition of 生吞活剥?
- 原指生硬搬用别人诗文的词句。现比喻生硬地接受或机械的搬用经验、理论等。