| 画虎不成反类犬 |
huà hǔ bù chéng fǎn lèi quǎn |
to try to draw a tiger but end up with a likeness of a dog (idiom) / to try to do sth overambitious and end up botching it |
| 画 |
huà |
to draw; to paint / picture; painting (CL:幅,张) / to draw (a line) (variant of 划) / stroke of a Chinese character (variant of 划) / (calligraphy) horizontal stroke (variant of 划) |
| 虎 |
hǔ |
tiger / CL:只 |
| 不 |
bù |
no; not so / (bound form) not; un- |
| 不成 |
bù chéng |
won't do / unable to / (at the end of a rhetorical question) can that be? |
| 成 |
Chéng |
surname Cheng / short name for Chengdu 成都 |
| 成 |
chéng |
to succeed / to finish / to complete / to accomplish / to become / to turn into / to be all right / OK! / one tenth |
| 反 |
fǎn |
contrary / in reverse / inside out or upside down / to reverse / to return / to oppose / opposite / against / anti- / to rebel / to use analogy / instead / abbr. for 反切 phonetic system |
| 类 |
lèi |
kind; type; class; category / (classifier) kind; type / (bound form) to resemble; to be similar to |
| 犬 |
quǎn |
(literary) dog / Kangxi radical 94 |