qīng​chū​yú​lán

the pupil surpasses the teacher

  • created sense approved 青出于蓝/青出於藍 · qīng​chū​yú​lán · the pupil surpasses the teacher — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    青出于蓝 / 青出於藍

    qīng​chū​yú​lán

    the pupil surpasses the teacher

    Literally meaning that indigo dye comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself; used to describe a student who surpasses their teacher or a younger generation that excels beyond its predecessors.

    青 (literal) → 青 · qīng · blue 出 (literal) → 出 · chū · [direction/result] 于 (literal) → 于/於 · yú · from 蓝 (literal) → 蓝/藍 · lán · indigo plant

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

    created sense