班门弄斧 (Bān mén nòng fǔ)

Character breakdown

• 班 (Bān) · 10 strokes

  Depicts a knife (刂) cutting a gem into two halves (玨), based on the original meaning "to divide". The meaning later shifted to "division", "group", and "team".

• 门 (Mén) · 3 strokes

  Simplified form of 門. Pictograph of a gate.

• 弄 (lòng) · 7 strokes

  Depicts a pair of hands (廾) playing with a jade object (玉).

• 斧 (fǔ) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 斤 represents the meaning and 父 represents the sound.

Usage

在你面前谈书法，我真是班门弄斧了。

Discussing calligraphy in front of you — I'm really showing off in front of an expert.

Zài nǐ miànqián tán shūfǎ, wǒ zhēnshi bānménnòngfǔ le.