JLPT N2Four-character idioms
温故知新
- Meaning
- 昔のことをよく学んでそこから新しい知識や見方を得ること
- Explanation
- "温故知新", from the sense of looking into the old (故) to learn the new, comes from the Analects. It means studying past knowledge and history well and gaining from it a new perspective useful for the present. It is the exact opposite of c4's "discarding the old"; the point is making use of the old.
Original Japanese explanation
「温故知新」は、故き（古いこと）を温（たず）ねて新しきを知る意で、論語に由来します。過去の知識や歴史をよく学び、そこから現代に役立つ新しい見方を得ることを言います。c4の「古いものを捨てる」とは正反対で、古いものを活かす点が要点です。
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