📖 Meaning
A shallow view and little that one has heard. Describes a person whose knowledge and experience are limited, and who is poorly informed about the world. The idiom is often used as a modest self-description acknowledging one's own narrow perspective.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Records of the Grand Historian (史记), written by Sima Qian in the Western Han dynasty. In the concluding commentary to the chapter on the Five Emperors (五帝本纪赞), Sima Qian writes that without diligent study and deep reflection to grasp the inner meaning, it is hard to explain such matters to those of shallow views and scanty knowledge. The phrase thereby became a standard way to characterize, or modestly admit to, limited learning and narrow experience.
💡 Example Usage
我自知浅见寡闻，实在不敢对先生的学问妄加评论。
Knowing that my views are shallow and my knowledge limited, I truly dare not presume to comment on your scholarship.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 浅见寡闻
- Pinyin: qiǎn jiàn guǎ wén
- Literal Translation: shallow, views, few, heard
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4