# 生吞活剥

shēng tūn huó bō

Copy or apply material without understanding it

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** Swallow raw and strip alive

**Traditional Chinese:** 生吞活剝

**Register:** Critical · general

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

## When to use it

Criticize uncritical copying of ideas, methods, or language.

It concerns poor digestion of material, not every act of borrowing.

## Understanding the expression

Food swallowed raw without preparation is a useful image for knowledge taken in without understanding. The expression criticizes lifting a formula, argument, or phrase and forcing it into a new setting. The material may be sound in its original context but unsuitable here. Learning from others is not the problem. The missing steps are comprehension, selection, and adaptation before using what has been borrowed.

## Examples

这篇论文生吞活剥别人的观点，没有自己的分析。

### Traditional Chinese

這篇論文生吞活剝別人的觀點，沒有自己的分析。

zhè piān lùn wén shēng tūn huó bō bié rén de guān diǎn ， méi yǒu zì jǐ de fēn xī 。

This paper copies others' ideas uncritically and offers no analysis.

别生吞活剥那套管理办法，我们的团队规模不同。

### Traditional Chinese

別生吞活剝那套管理辦法，我們的團隊規模不同。

bié shēng tūn huó bō nà tào guǎn lǐ bàn fǎ ， wǒ men de tuán duì guī mó bù tóng 。

Do not apply that management system blindly; our team is a different size.

他把教材里的话生吞活剥地塞进演讲。

### Traditional Chinese

他把教材裡的話生吞活剝地塞進演講。

tā bǎ jiào cái lǐ de huà shēng tūn huó bō dì sāi jìn yǎn jiǎng 。

He forced textbook wording into his speech without understanding it.

学语言不能只把句型生吞活剥地背下来。

### Traditional Chinese

學語言不能只把句型生吞活剝地背下來。

xué yǔ yán bù néng zhī bǎ jù xíng shēng tūn huó bō dì bèi xià lái 。

Learning a language requires more than memorizing patterns without understanding them.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 6, 2026.

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E7%94%9F%E5%90%9E%E6%B4%BB%E5%89%9D)

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=360&webMd=1&la=0)

## Keep exploring

- [食古不化 shí gǔ bù huà Follow old learning without adapting it ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/shi-gu-bu-hua)

- [拭目以待 shì mù yǐ dài Wait attentively to see what happens ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/shi-mu-yi-dai)

- [十全十美 shí quán shí měi Complete and without apparent shortcomings ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/shi-quan-shi-mei)

- [拾人牙慧 shí rén yá huì Repeat others' ideas without original thought ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/shi-ren-ya-hui)

## Keep this one close.

Save useful idioms, read offline, and revisit them with flashcards in Almanac.

[View on the App Store ](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6819590452)

[Previous idiom 升堂入室 ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/sheng-tang-ru-shi) [Next idiom 事半功倍 ](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/shi-ban-gong-bei)