Taivo A Taiwan Mandarin dictionary

望文生義

wàngwénshēngyì

ㄨㄤˋ ㄨㄣˊ ㄕㄥ ㄧˋ

Simplified 望文生义

  1. 1lit. view a text and interpret (idiom); to interpret word by word without understanding the meaning
  2. 2a far-fetched interpretation
Example

你的理解有點望文生義了。

nǐ de lǐjiě yǒudiǎn wàngwénshēngyì le

Your interpretation is based merely on the surface meaning.

Keep 望文生義 and it comes back until you know it.

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