温故知新
wēn gù zhī xīn
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Traditional: 溫故知新
To gain new understanding by going back over what you have already learned, or by looking at the past. Used about study habits and about learning from history.
Ôn lại cái cũ để hiểu thêm cái mới. Dùng để nói về cách học và về việc nhìn lại quá khứ để rút ra bài học cho hiện tại.
Register: formal
Examples
Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation) — awaiting a native-speaker check
Sources & notes
Hán-Việt bridge batch 061 (2026-11-13). Headword, Traditional form and pinyin checked against CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0) source ↗ · Hán-Việt reading: Unihan kVietnamese source ↗ ; en.wiktionary Vietnamese entries via kaikki.org extract, snapshot 2026-07-31 (CC BY-SA 4.0): Hán-Việt reading 温/溫 = ôn; etymology of “ôn cố tri tân” = 溫故知新 · Vietnamese cognate: Idiomer entry “ôn cố tri tân” (on-co-tri-tan). Definition, literal gloss and example sentence are original; the example has not had a native-speaker check yet.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “温故知新” mean?
To gain new understanding by going back over what you have already learned, or by looking at the past. Used about study habits and about learning from history. Literally: review the old, know the new
Is “温故知新” formal or informal?
温故知新 is generally formal.