画虎画皮难画骨
huà​hǔ​huà​pí​nán​huà​gǔ

knowing the outside but not the inside

  • created sense approved 画虎画皮难画骨 · huà​hǔ​huà​pí​nán​huà​gǔ · knowing the outside but not the inside — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    画虎画皮难画骨

    huà​hǔ​huà​pí​nán​huà​gǔ

    knowing the outside but not the inside

    you can paint a tiger's skin but it is hard to paint the bones; it is easy to know a person's appearance but difficult to know their true character

    画 (opaque) 虎 (literal) → 虎 · hǔ · tiger 画 (opaque) 皮 (literal) → 皮 · pí · skin; leather 难 (opaque) 画 (opaque) 骨 (literal) → 骨 · gǔ · bone

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

    created sense