熟能生巧

Mandarin · pinyin shú néng shēng qiǎo

Meanings

  1. with familiarity you learn the trick (idiom); practice makes perfect
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Characters in this entry

熟
shú · well-cooked; ripe; familiar with
能
néng · to be able; can, permitted to; ability
生
shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
巧
qiǎo · skillful, ingenious, clever
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–1–3 · shu2 neng2 sheng1 qiao3

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

suk6 nang4 saang1 haau2

Cantonese word readings for 熟能生巧. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

suk6 nang4 sang1 haau2

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) practice makes perfect

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

熟能生巧 · shu2 neng2 sheng1 qiao3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 70,698
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record熟能生巧 熟能生巧 [shu2 neng2 sheng1 qiao3] /with familiarity you learn the trick (idiom); practice makes perfect/