# 如出一辙

rú chū yī zhé

Follow almost exactly the same pattern

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** As though coming from the same wheel track

**Traditional Chinese:** 如出一轍

**Register:** General · spoken & written

[Perspective](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/topics/perspective)

## When to use it

Describe closely matching methods, accounts, or results.

A shared pattern does not necessarily mean copying.

## The image & its use

A wheel track guides another wheel along the same route. The expression extends that image to things that seem to follow an identical pattern. Two introductions may use the same sequence, or different people may react in strikingly similar ways. The comparison is stronger than broad resemblance. Name the repeated feature and avoid inferring a cause without evidence. Familiar conventions can lead people independently to similar choices, just as deliberate imitation can produce matching results.

## Examples

这两份说明的结构如出一辙。

### Traditional Chinese

這兩份說明的結構如出一轍。

zhè liǎng fèn shuō míng de jié gòu rú chū yī zhé 。

The two explanations follow almost the same structure.

他们对这道题的思路如出一辙。

### Traditional Chinese

他們對這道題的思路如出一轍。

tā men duì zhè dào tí de sī lù rú chū yī zhé 。

Their approaches to the problem are nearly identical.

几次会议的安排如出一辙。

### Traditional Chinese

幾次會議的安排如出一轍。

jǐ cì huì yì de ān pái rú chū yī zhé 。

The meetings all followed the same pattern.

表面如出一辙，细节仍需核对。

### Traditional Chinese

表面如出一轍，細節仍需核對。

biǎo miàn rú chū yī zhé ， xì jié réng xū hé duì 。

Even when things look alike, check the details.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 7, 2026.

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=1162&webMd=1&la=0)

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E5%A6%82%E5%87%BA%E4%B8%80%E8%BD%8D)

## Keep exploring

- [入木三分 rù mù sān fēn Penetrating and perceptive ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/ru-mu-san-fen)

- [如数家珍 rú shǔ jiā zhēn Discuss something with intimate familiarity ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/ru-shu-jia-zhen)

- [弱不禁风 ruò bù jīn fēng Be extremely physically delicate ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/ruo-bu-jin-feng)

- [若无其事 ruò wú qí shì Behave as if nothing had happened ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/ruo-wu-qi-shi)

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