📖 Meaning
To deduce many things from one case; to draw inferences about other cases from one fact. It describes a person who is quick at learning and can generalize or extrapolate from a single example to understand related matters.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Confucian classic "The Analects" (论语·述而), where Confucius said: 'I do not enlighten those who are not eager to learn, nor instruct those who are not anxious to express themselves. If I show one corner and they cannot return with the other three, I will not teach them again.' Confucius used this metaphor of a square (showing one corner and expecting the student to deduce the other three) to describe his teaching philosophy of inspiring students to think independently rather than spoon-feeding knowledge.
💡 Example Usage
老师讲了这个例题的解法后，同学们都能举一反三，顺利做出了后面几道类似的题目。
After the teacher explained the solution to the sample problem, the students were all able to draw inferences and smoothly solved the subsequent similar questions.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 举一反三
- Pinyin: jǔ yī fǎn sān
- Literal Translation: raise one, return three
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4