照猫画虎
zhào māo huà hǔ
to imitate the outward form without real understanding
Character by character
照zhào
following
following
猫māo
cat
cat
画huà
draw
draw
虎hǔ
tiger
tiger
Example
他没学过设计，只是照猫画虎地模仿别人的网页，做出来总觉得哪里不对。
He never studied design and just copied other people’s web pages, tiger-from-a-cat style, so what he made always felt wrong somehow.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
A tiger drawn from a cat gets the shape roughly right and the spirit wrong. Mildly critical of copying the surface, but a beginner may say it modestly of himself: 我只是照猫画虎. Close to the saying 依葫芦画瓢 in this lesson; compare 画虎不成反类犬 (lesson 4-19), where the copy fails outright.
Learn this in Lesson 186 · HSK 7–9: 从山寨到原创 (From knock-offs to originals)
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.
Open the lesson →