Japanese

はんめんきょうし
Meaning: negative example; someone to learn from by not imitating them
Part of Speech: Noun, Four-character idiom

Listen to pronunciation

Handwriting

反
面
教
師

Example

Let's use his failure as a negative example and not repeat the same mistake.

Usage Notes

Refers to a person or case that is a bad example, but from which one can learn what not to do.

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