百聞不如一見

Chinese

hundred
hear; news; celebrated
hear; news; celebrated; sniff at
 
to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as
to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as; cannot compare to; to be inferior to
 
one; single; a
one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)
 
to see; to meet; to appear
to see; to meet; to appear; to interview
 
trad. (百聞不如一見) 不如
simp. (百闻不如一见) 不如
Literally: “Hearing something one hundred times is not as good as seeing it once.”

Etymology

From Zhao Chongguo in the 69th chapter of the Book of Han:

百聞不如一見金城方略 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
百闻不如一见金城方略 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
From: The Book of Han, circa 1st century CE
Bǎi wén bùrú yī jiàn. Bīng nán yú dù, chén yuàn chí zhì jīnchéng, tú shàng fānglüè. [Pinyin]
(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Pronunciation


Proverb

百聞不如一見

  1. seeing is believing
  2. a picture is worth a thousand words

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (百聞不如一見):
  • Korean: 백문불여일견(百聞不如一見) (baengmunburyeoilgyeon)

Others:

Korean

Hanja in this term

Proverb

百聞不如一見 • (baengmunburyeoilgyeon) (hangeul 백문불여일견)

  1. hanja form? of 백문불여일견 (seeing is believing)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Noun

百聞不如一見

  1. chữ Hán form of Bách văn bất như nhất kiến (trăm nghe không bằng mắt thấy)