百聞は一見に如かず

Japanese

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Kanji in this term
ひゃく
Grade: 1
ぶん
Grade: 2
いち > いっ
Grade: 1
けん
Grade: 1

Grade: S
Alternative spelling
百聞は一見にしかず

Etymology

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Calque of Literary Chinese 百聞不如一見 (bǎi wén bùrú yī jiàn, literally Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once). From the Book of Han.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ça̠kɯ̟bɯ̟ɰ̃ β̞a̠ ik̚ke̞ɲ̟ ɲ̟i ɕika̠zɨ]

Idiom

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(ひゃく)(ぶん)(いっ)(けん)()かず (hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu

  1. you understand better by seeing for yourself than hearing about it, seeing is believing

Usage notes

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Similar to a picture is worth a thousand words but is not limited to pictures.