尽如人意 (jìn rú rén yì) — perfect, completely satisfactory; as one could…

Definition

An idiom meaning 'just as one wishes' — emphasizes the gap between expectation and reality, so it often appears negated (并不尽如人意) to mean 'not entirely satisfactory'.

idiom

perfectcompletely satisfactoryas one could wish

Examples

尽如人意。
Zhè jiàn shì de jié guǒ bìng bú jìn rú rén yì.
The outcome of this matter was not entirely satisfactory.
尽如人意。
Wǒ men xī wàng yí qiè dōu néng jìn rú rén yì.
We hope everything can turn out as we wish.
，尽如人意。
Suī rán fāng àn réng yǒu bù zú, dàn jī běn jìn rú rén yì le.
Although the plan still has shortcomings, it is basically satisfactory.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 盡; 尽 is its simplified writing.

聿聿yùhand holding a brush
灬灬huǒbristles
皿皿mǐndish

The traditional form 盡 shows 聿 (hand holding a brush) and 灬 (bristles) over 皿 (dish), cleaning a dish until it is empty. The simplified 尽 is a shorthand, not those historical parts.

Open 尽 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女口如

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

女

女nǚ如rú

Same sound today

如 is built from 口 (mouth) for its meaning and 女 (woman) for its sound.

Open 如 →

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