人云亦云 (rén yún yì yún) — to parrot others' words, to echo what others say without original thought

Definition

A chengyu meaning 'to parrot what others say' — repeating opinions without independent thought, often used to criticize a lack of originality or backbone.

idiom
to parrot others' words, to echo what others say without original thought

Examples

  • 人云亦云，。
    Tā cóng lái bù rén yún yì yún, zǒng shì yǒu zì jǐ de dú lì sī kǎo.
    He never parrots others; he always has his own independent thinking.
  • 人云亦云。
    Zhè piān wén zhāng pī píng le nà xiē rén yún yì yún de píng lùn jiā.
    This article criticizes those critics who just echo others' words.
  • ，。
    Zài tǎo lùn zhōng rén yún yì yún, zhī huì ràng rén jué de nǐ méi yǒu zhǔ jiàn.
    Parroting others in a discussion will only make people think you have no opinions of your own.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

Open 云 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

亦 originally drew a person with marks at the armpits. It was later borrowed for its sound to write 亦 'also', so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 亦 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

Open 云 →

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