望文生义

wàng wén shēng yì

to guess the meaning from the surface of the words, and get it wrong

Character by character

望wàng
look at

文wén
the words

生shēng
produce

义yì
a meaning

学成语不能望文生义，要了解它的来历。

You cannot learn idioms by guessing from the surface; you need to know where they come from.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Learn this in Lesson 82 · HSK 6–7: 汉字的演变 (How the characters evolved)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.