舉一反三

Chinese

		to lift; to hold up; to cite to lift; to hold up; to cite; to enumerate; to act; to raise; to choose; to elect	one; single; a one; single; a; (before verbs) as soon as, once; (before a noun) entire (family, etc.)	wrong side out or up; anti-	three
trad. (舉一反三)		舉	一	反	三
simp. (举一反三)		举	一	反	三

Etymology

Paraphrased from the Analects:

子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發，舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

子曰：“不愤不启，不悱不发，举一隅不以三隅反，则不复也。” [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Zǐyuē: “Bù fèn bù qǐ, bù fěi bù fā, jǔ yī yú bù yǐ sān yú fǎn, zé bù fù yě.” [Pinyin]

The Master said, "I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson."

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): jǔyīfǎnsān
(Zhuyin): ㄐㄩˇ ㄧㄈㄢˇ ㄙㄢ
Cantonese (Jyutping): geoi² jat¹ faan² saam¹
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kí-yit-fán-sâm
Min Nan (Teochew, Peng'im): ge² zêg⁸ huang² san¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: jǔyīfǎnsān
  - Zhuyin: ㄐㄩˇ ㄧㄈㄢˇ ㄙㄢ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jyǔyifǎnsan
  - Wade–Giles: chü³-i¹-fan³-san¹
  - Yale: jyǔ-yī-fǎn-sān
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jeuifaansan
  - Palladius: цзюйифаньсань (czjujifanʹsanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕy²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ i⁵⁵ fän²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ sän⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: geoi² jat¹ faan² saam¹
  - Yale: géui yāt fáan sāam
  - Cantonese Pinyin: goey² jat⁷ faan² saam¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: gêu² yed¹ fan² sam¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɵy̯³⁵ jɐt̚⁵ faːn³⁵ saːm⁵⁵/
Hakka
- (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kí-yit-fán-sâm
  - Hakka Romanization System: gi` id` fan` sam´
  - Hagfa Pinyim: gi³ yid⁵ fan³ sam¹
  - Sinological IPA: /ki³¹ it̚² fan³¹ sam²⁴/
- (Southern Sixian, incl. Meinong)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kí-yit-fán-sâm
  - Hakka Romanization System: gi` (r)id` fan` sam´
  - Hagfa Pinyim: gi³ yid⁵ fan³ sam¹
  - Sinological IPA: /ki³¹ (j)it̚² fan³¹ sam²⁴/
Min Nan
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: ge² zêg⁸ huang² san¹
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kṳ́ tse̍k huáng saⁿ
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɯ⁵²⁻³⁵ t͡sek̚⁴⁻² huaŋ⁵²⁻³⁵ sã³³/

Idiom

舉一反三

to learn by analogy; to infer other cases based on one instance