是骡子是马，拉出来遛遛
shì​luó​zi​shì​mǎ​lā​chū​lai​liù​liu

the proof is in the pudding

  • created sense approved 是骡子是马，拉出来遛遛/是騾子是馬，拉出來遛遛 · shì​luó​zi​shì​mǎ​lā​chū​lai​liù​liu · the proof is in the pudding — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    是骡子是马，拉出来遛遛 / 是騾子是馬，拉出來遛遛

    shì​luó​zi​shì​mǎ​lā​chū​lai​liù​liu

    the proof is in the pudding

    literally meaning "whether it is a mule or a horse, take it out for a walk"; used to express that the only way to judge someone's true ability or the quality of a thing is to put it to a practical test

    是 (literal) → 是 · shì · to be 骡子 (literal) → 骡子/騾子 · luó​zi · mule 是 (literal) → 是 · shì · to be 马 (literal) → 马/馬 · mǎ · horse ， (non_chinese) 拉 (literal) → 拉 · lā · to pull 出来 (literal) → 出来/出來 · chū​lai · to come out 遛遛 (reduplication) → 遛 · liù · to walk an animal

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense