食古不化 shí gǔ bù huà

to be pedantic without having a mastery of one's subject

Word data

HSK Not in HSK
Frequency 52033rd word

Definitions

  1. 1. to be pedantic without having a mastery of one's subject
  2. 2. to swallow ancient learning without digesting it (idiom)

Characters

Character Meaning
食 shí HSK 5
to eat; food; animal feed
古 gǔ HSK 5
ancient; old; surname Gu
不 bù HSK 1
not; no; (negative prefix)
化 huà HSK 3
to change into; to transform; to make into