Word information
Simplified郑人买履
Traditional鄭人買履
Pinyinzhèng rén mǎi lǚ
Part of speechDictionary
HSK 3.0Not listed
HSK 2.0Not listed
Chinese word dictionary
郑人买履
zhèng rén mǎi lǚ · lit. the person from Zheng 鄭|郑[Zheng4] who wanted to buy shoes (an allusion to an ancient story about somebody who, when buying a pair of shoes, preferred to rely on their foot measurements rather than just trying them on) (idiom); fig. disregarding the sensible approach in favor of adherence to a fixed idea
Character breakdown
Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.
How to learn 郑人买履
Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.
When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.
Related vocabulary
Words with the same characters
Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.