shì luó zi shì mǎ , qiān chū lai liù liu

Traditional: 是騾子是馬，牽出來遛遛

是骡子是马，牵出来遛遛 (shì luó zi shì mǎ , qiān chū lai liù liu) is a Chinese word meaning “lit. to see whether it's a mule or a horse, take it out for a walk (idiom); fig. the proof of the pudding is in the eating; to show what one is made of”.

Meanings

  1. 1lit. to see whether it's a mule or a horse, take it out for a walk (idiom)
  2. 2fig. the proof of the pudding is in the eating
  3. 3to show what one is made of

Characters in 是骡子是马，牵出来遛遛

是shì · to be (followed by substantives only)骡luó · mule子zǐ · son是shì · to be (followed by substantives only)马mǎ · horse牵qiān · to lead along出chū · to go out; to come out来lái · to come遛liú · used in 逗遛[dou4 liu2]遛liú · used in 逗遛[dou4 liu2]

Related words

是to be (followed by substantives only)是variant of 是[shi4]来to come但是but; however是的yes, that's right出to go out; to come out出variant of 出[chu1] (classifier for plays or chapters of classical novels)孩子child起来to stand up; to get up起来(after a verb) indicating the beginning and continuation of an action or a state就是exactly; precisely回来to return; to come back

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