讀書破萬卷

See also: 读书破万卷

Chinese

		to read books; to study	to break; to split; broken to break; to split; broken; damaged; worn out
trad. (讀書破萬卷)		讀書	破	萬卷
simp. (读书破万卷)		读书	破	万卷
Literally: “have read more than 10,000 scrolls”.

Etymology

A quote from a poem by Du Fu:

讀書破萬卷，下筆如有神。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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读书破万卷，下笔如有神。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Dúshū pò wànjuàn, xiàbǐ rú yǒushén. [Pinyin]

Having pored over ten thousand volumes, one can write with godly power.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dúshū pò wànjuàn

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨˊ ㄕㄨ ㄆㄛˋ ㄨㄢˋ ㄐㄩㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): duk⁶ syu¹ po³ maan⁶ gyun²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dúshū pò wànjuàn
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨˊ ㄕㄨ ㄆㄛˋ ㄨㄢˋ ㄐㄩㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dúshu pò wànjyuàn
    • Wade–Giles: tu²-shu¹ pʻo⁴ wan⁴-chüan⁴
    • Yale: dú-shū pwò wàn-jywàn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dwushu poh wannjiuann
    • Palladius: душу по ваньцзюань (dušu po vanʹczjuanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tu³⁵ ʂu⁵⁵ pʰu̯ɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ wän⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕy̯ɛn⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: duk⁶ syu¹ po³ maan⁶ gyun²
    • Yale: duhk syū po maahn gyún
    • Cantonese Pinyin: duk⁹ sy¹ po³ maan⁶ gyn²
    • Guangdong Romanization: dug⁶ xu¹ po³ man⁶ gün²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊk̚² syː⁵⁵ pʰɔː³³ maːn²² kyːn³⁵/

Idiom

讀書破萬卷

1. Describes someone who is well-read.

Related terms

• 讀萬卷書，行萬里路／读万卷书，行万里路 (dú wàn juàn shū, xíng wàn lǐ lù)