📖 Meaning
To compensate for one's lack of natural ability through hard work and diligence. It expresses the idea that persistent effort can overcome innate shortcomings, and that industriousness is the best remedy for inadequacy.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a poem by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (白居易), titled '自到郡斋题二十四韵' (Twenty-Four Rhymes Written Upon Arriving at My Prefecture Residence). In it he wrote, '救烦无若静，补拙莫如勤' — to relieve troubles, nothing compares to calmness; to remedy clumsiness, nothing compares to diligence. Bai Juyi was reflecting on his approach to governance after being appointed to a local administrative post. The lines were later condensed into the four-character idiom 将勤补拙, conveying that hard work is the surest way to make up for limited talent.
💡 Example Usage
他资质平平，却懂得将勤补拙，最终考上了理想的大学。
Though only average in talent, he knew how to make up for it with hard work, and eventually got into his dream university.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 将勤补拙
- Pinyin: jiāng qín bǔ zhuō
- Literal Translation: use, diligence, to make up for, clumsiness
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4