过而能改，善莫大焉 / 過而能改，善莫大焉

guò'ér​néng​gǎi​shàn​mò​dà​yān

to correct one's mistakes

if one can change after making a mistake, there is nothing better; used as an idiom to encourage self-improvement and the correction of errors

过 (literal) → 过/過 · guò · error 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · [adverbial linker] 能 (literal) → 能 · néng · can 改 (literal) → 改 · gǎi · to correct ， (non_chinese) 善 (literal) → 善 · shàn · good 莫大 (literal) → 莫大 · mò​dà · greatest 焉 (literal) → 焉 · yān · [sentence-final]

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM