舉一反三

Chinese

to lift; to hold up; to cite
to lift; to hold up; to cite; to enumerate; to act; to raise; to choose; to elect
 
one; single; a
one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)
 
 wrong side out or up; anti- three
trad. (舉一反三) 舉 一 反 三
simp. (举一反三) 举 一 反 三

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 7 (《論語·述而》):

子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發，舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
子曰：「不愤不启，不悱不发，举一隅不以三隅反，则不复也。」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
Zǐyuē: “Bù fèn bù qǐ, bù fěi bù fā, jǔ yī yú bù yǐ sān yú fǎn, zé bù fù yě.” [Pinyin]
The Master said, "I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson."

Pronunciation

Idiom

舉一反三

  1. to learn by analogy; to infer other cases based on one instance
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