青出于蓝而胜于蓝 / 青出於藍而勝於藍

qīng​chū​yú​lán'ér​shèng​yú​lán

the student surpasses the master

Literally meaning that indigo blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself; used to describe a student who excels beyond their teacher or a successor who outdoes their predecessor.

青 (literal) → 青 · qīng · blue 出于 (literal) → 出于/出於 · chū​yú · to stem from 蓝 (literal) → 蓝/藍 · lán · indigo plant 而 (literal) → 而 · ér · but 胜于 (literal) → 胜于/勝於 · shèng​yú · to be better than 蓝 (literal) → 蓝/藍 · lán · indigo plant

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

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM