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Chinese/Dictionary entry

百胜难虑敌，三折乃良医

bǎi shèng nán lǜ dí , sān zhé nǎi liáng yīdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(a line from a poem by the Tang poet Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫|刘禹锡[Liú Yǔ xī]) one gains very little insight into one's enemy from a hundred victories, but he who breaks his arm three times will be a good doctor / (fig.) one learns more from one's failures than from one's successes
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-dd81c137733a9b6f. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

百勝難慮敵，三折乃良醫 百胜难虑敌，三折乃良医 [bai3 sheng4 nan2 lu:4 di2 , san1 zhe2 nai3 liang2 yi1] /(a line from a poem by the Tang poet Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫|刘禹锡[Liu2 Yu3 xi1]) one gains very little insight into one's enemy from a hundred victories, but he who breaks his arm three times will be a good doctor/(fig.) one learns more from one's failures than from one's successes/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 百勝難慮敵，三折乃良醫

  • 百
    bǎi

    hundred / numerous / all kinds of

    Bǎi

    surname Bai

  • 胜
    shèng

    victory / success / to beat / to defeat / to surpass / victorious / superior to / to get the better of / better than / surpassing / superb (of vista) / beautiful (scenery) / wonderful (view) / (Taiwan pr. [shēng]) able to bear / equal to (a task)

  • 难
    nán

    difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

    nàn

    disaster / distress / to scold

  • 虑
    lǜ

    to think over / to consider / anxiety

  • 敌
    dí

    (bound form) enemy / (bound form) to be a match for / to rival / (bound form) to resist / to withstand

  • 三
    sān

    three / 3

    Sān

    surname San

  • 折
    shé

    to snap / to break (a stick, a bone etc) / (bound form) to sustain a loss (in business)

    zhē

    to turn sth over / to turn upside down / to tip sth out (of a container)

    zhé

    to break / to fracture / to snap / to suffer loss / to bend / to twist / to turn / to change direction / convinced / to convert into (currency) / discount / rebate / tenth (in price) / classifier for theatrical scenes / to fold / accounts book

  • 乃
    nǎi

    to be / thus / so / therefore / then / only / thereupon

  • 良
    liáng

    good / very / very much

  • 医
    yī

    medical / medicine / doctor / to cure / to treat

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.