Shareables · HSK 2 · 文 · Culture
成语 · 熟能生巧
Familiarity breeds skill. Four characters behind every hour of practice.
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熟能生巧shú néng shēng qiǎopractice makes perfect: skill is born of familiarity
逐字 · CHARACTER BY CHARACTER
| Character | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 熟 | shú | familiar, well-practised |
| 能 | néng | can, is able to |
| 生 | shēng | to produce, to give birth to |
| 巧 | qiǎo | skill, deftness |
An old archer watched an oil seller pour oil through the square hole of a coin without wetting it. Asked how, he said only: 我亦无他，惟手熟尔. Nothing special, my hand is simply used to it.
用法 · IN USE
Bié zháojí, shú néng shēng qiǎo.别着急，熟能生巧。Don't rush — you get good by doing it a lot.
欧阳修《卖油翁》· Ouyang Xiu, 11th century
What this card is
A one-page Chinese lesson from the HSK 2 set, filed under 文 · Culture. Familiarity breeds skill. Four characters behind every hour of practice.
How to use it
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Where it fits
The source: 熟能生巧 in the dictionary.
See where this level sits in the HSK levels guide, browse every card, or look any word up in the dictionary.
More from HSK 2
- 唐诗 · 静夜思 — Twenty characters every Chinese child knows by heart, and almost all of them are HSK 1.
- 中秋节 · The words of Mid-Autumn — One full moon, one round cake, and the word that means both: 团圆.
- 歌 · 甜蜜蜜 — Sweet as honey, and the line in it is a question you already know how to ask.
- 歌 · 月亮代表我的心 — Seven characters, six of them HSK 1, and the most-covered love song in Mandarin.
- 追 · Follow up, genuinely curious — History, food, their village — chase whatever thread they just opened. Very little language unlocks hundreds of hours of practice.
- 问 · 多久 How long, how many — 多久 asks a length of time and follows the verb; 几 counts and takes a measure word after it.
- 问 · 怎么 How, and what do you think — 怎么 asks the manner of doing something; 怎么样 asks for an opinion or a state.
- 问 · 能…吗 Could you — 能 + verb + 吗 is a request, not an order. It is the polite way to ask someone to keep going.
A card is one idea. The course is the map they all sit on. HSK 0 through HSK 6 on a prerequisite-ordered knowledge graph: active recall in small steps, reviews timed to land just before you would forget, and speaking practice built on the comment + question method. From $49 once for lifetime access.
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