Definition
生吞活剥 is a four-character idiom (成语) that literally means 'to swallow raw and peel alive'. It describes the act of accepting or adopting ideas, texts, or methods without understanding, digesting, or adapting them — essentially, uncritical acceptance or rote copying. The metaphor comes from ancient criticism of poets who imitated others' work without transformation. Use it to criticize someone who parrots or plagiarizes without real comprehension.
f.e.
to accept something uncriticallyto swallow whole (without understanding or adapting)
Examples
- 生吞活剥，。Xuéxí xīn zhīshi bùnéng shēng tūn huó bāo, yào shēnrù lǐjiě.When learning new knowledge, you can't just swallow it whole — you need to understand it deeply.
- 生吞活剥，。Tā xiě lùnwén shí shēng tūn huó bāo biérén de guāndiǎn, wánquán méiyǒu zìjǐ de sīkǎo.When writing his thesis, he uncritically accepted others' viewpoints without any original thought.
- 生吞活剥，。Zhè zhǒng shēng tūn huó bāo de xuéxí fāngfǎ, kǎoshì yí guò jiù quán wàng le.This kind of rote, uncritical learning method — once the exam is over, you forget everything.
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