📖 Meaning
Literally meaning 'half-raw and not fully cooked,' this idiom describes food that has not been thoroughly cooked or ripened. Figuratively, it refers to a state of being half-baked, incomplete, or lacking full familiarity and proficiency in something.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from the everyday experience of cooking, where food that is neither fully raw nor fully cooked is considered unsatisfactory. Its usage is documented in classical and vernacular Chinese literature as a metaphor for incompleteness. The related form '半生半熟' appears in earlier texts. Over time, the phrase became a common expression for anything done halfway or mastered only superficially.
💡 Example Usage
他学了几个月日语，说话还是半生不熟的。
After studying Japanese for a few months, he still speaks it in a half-baked, unpolished way.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 半生不熟
- Pinyin: bàn shēng bù shú
- Literal Translation: half, raw, not, cooked
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4