后车之鉴 in English hou4 che1 zhi1 jian4 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) warning to the following cart (idiomatic expression); don't follow the track of an overturned cart
  • metaphorically draw lesson from the failure of one's predecessor
  • learn from past mistake
  • once bitten twice shy

Simplified Characters

后 车 之 鉴

Traditional Characters

後 車 之 鑒

Pinyin

hou4 che1 zhi1 jian4

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

后hou4surname Hou 车che1surname Che 之zhi1(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) 鉴jian4variant of 鑑|鉴[jian4]