百闻不如一见 (bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn)

Character breakdown

• 百 (Bǎi) · 6 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 一 represents the meaning and 白 represents the sound.

• 闻 (Wén) · 9 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 耳 represents the meaning and 门 represents the sound. Simplified form of 聞.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

• 如 (rú) · 6 strokes

  Depicts a woman (女) obeying spoken (口) orders. Based on the original meaning "obey". The meaning later shifted to "be similar" and "like". 女 also serves as a sound component.

• 一 (yī) · 1 strokes

  A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

• 见 (jiàn) · 4 strokes

  Simplified form of 見. Pictograph of a person (儿) using their eye (目) to see (見).

Usage

百闻不如一见，这次去中国让我大开眼界。

Seeing is believing — this trip to China really opened my eyes.

Bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn, zhè cì qù Zhōng guó ràng wǒ dà kāi yǎn jiè.