📖 Meaning
To have learned only half of what one's teacher knows. It describes a student who falls short of the master's level of attainment or skill. The phrase conveys partial rather than complete mastery passed down from teacher to disciple.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Song dynasty work 'Men Shi Xin Hua' (扪虱新话) by Chen Shan, in the chapter discussing the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi and the poetry of Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian. Chen Shan observes that those who study the Tang writer Han Yu but fail to reach his stature end up like Sun Qiao, and those who study Tao Yuanming but fall short end up like Bai Juyi. He rhetorically asks whether this is precisely what is meant by '减师半德' — that the disciple attains only half the virtue of the master. The phrase thus comments on the gap between teacher and student in literary and artistic inheritance.
💡 Example Usage
他虽从名师学画多年，却始终减师半德，未能自成一家。
Though he studied painting under a famous master for many years, he attained only half his teacher's skill and never developed a style of his own.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 减师半德
- Pinyin: jiǎn shī bàn dé
- Literal Translation: reduce, teacher, half, virtue
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4