差强人意
差强人意 (chà qiáng rén yì) literally means “barely satisfies expectations” and expresses “meets minimum standards only”. This idiom is used when describing situations involving life philosophy. It originates from ancient Chinese literature and remains commonly used in modern Mandarin.
Also searched as: cha qiang ren yi, cha qiang ren yi,差强人意 meaning, 差强人意 in english
Meets minimum standards only
Pronunciation: chà qiáng rén yì
Literal meaning: Barely satisfies expectations
Origin & Usage
This nuanced idiom describes something that somewhat (差) forcefully (强) satisfies (人意) expectations, originating from Han Dynasty literary criticism. Interestingly, its meaning evolved significantly - originally indicating exceeding expectations, it gradually shifted to describe barely adequate performance. The change occurred during the Northern Song period, creating a semantic reversal that confuses even native speakers. The character '差' caused this ambiguity, as it can mean either 'somewhat' or 'differ from' depending on pronunciation. During the Qing Dynasty, scholars standardized its current meaning of marginally acceptable quality. Modern usage describes performance meeting minimum standards without excellence, particularly in evaluations where basic requirements are satisfied without impressive quality.
Examples
English: "The project's results were acceptable but not impressive"
Chinese: 项目的结果可以接受，但并不令人印象深刻
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Related Chinese Idioms
Similar idioms about life philosophy
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 差强人意 mean in English?
差强人意 (chà qiáng rén yì) literally translates to “Barely satisfies expectations” and is used to express “Meets minimum standards only”. This Chinese idiom belongs to the Life Philosophy category.
When is 差强人意 used?
Situation: This idiom applies when describing situations involving meets minimum standards only.
What is the pinyin for 差强人意?
The pinyin pronunciation for 差强人意 is “chà qiáng rén yì”.