📖 Meaning
A single segment or detail that reveals the whole of something. It is used as a metaphor for a local part that embodies the overall picture or essence.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces back to a proverb quoted in the Han dynasty work 'Xin Lun: Dao Fu' (New Discourses: On the Fu) by the scholar Huan Tan. The original proverb says that from seeing just one section of a dwarf, one can infer his overall height. Over time it came to symbolize how a partial glimpse can reveal the whole.
💡 Example Usage
这篇报道只是侏儒一节，真正的内幕远不止于此。
This report is merely one fragment revealing the whole; the real inside story goes far beyond it.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 侏儒一节
- Pinyin: zhū rǔ yī jié
- Literal Translation: dwarf, one, section
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4