一叶知秋

Pronunciation: yī yè zhī qiū Literal meaning: One leaf know autumn

Origin & Usage

This one comes from the Huainanzi of the Han dynasty: 见一叶落而知岁之将暮 — seeing one leaf fall, one knows the year is drawing to its close. From a single (一) leaf (叶) one knows (知) that autumn (秋) has come. The point is inference from a small, ordinary, easily missed particular, not from a dramatic sign. Reading a large shift from one early indicator — with the implication that the indicator was there for anybody who bothered to look.

Examples

English: "The experienced analyst predicted the market trend from subtle indicators"

Chinese: 经验丰富的分析师从细微指标预测了市场走势