食古不化
Traditional form:
食古不化
Pinyin (reading):
shígǔbùhuà
Definitions:
- to swallow ancient learning without digesting it (idiom)
- to be pedantic without having a mastery of one's subject
Characters:
- 食 - food; to eat
- 古 - old, classic, ancient
- 不 - no, not, un-; negative prefix
- 化 - to change, to convert, to reform; -ize
Traditional characters: