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班門弄斧

简班门弄斧 · 繁班門弄斧

Mandarin · pinyin Bān mén nòng fǔ

to display one's slight skill before an expert (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

班: bān · class, group, grade; squad; job
門: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening; Kangxi radical 169
弄: nòng · do, play or fiddle with; alley
斧: fǔ · axe, hatchet; chop, hew
门: mén · gate, door, entrance, opening

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · Ban1 men2 nong4 fu3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

班門弄斧 · find source passages ↗ · 班门弄斧 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

baan1 mun4 lung6 fu2

Cantonese word readings for 班門弄斧. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(sometimes humble) to show off one's inferior talent or skill in front of an expert
(idiomatic) to teach an expert how to do things

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

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