初出茅庐 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• venturing from one's thatched hut for the first time
• young and inexperienced
• novice
• greenhorn

Character by character

• 初chūbeginning, initial, primary
• 出chūto go out, to send out; stand; produce
• 茅máorushes, reeds, grass; surname
• 庐lúhut, cottage; the name of a mountain

Idioms sharing a character

• 初露头角 chū lù tóu jiǎo
• 悔不当初 huǐ bù dāng chū
• 情窦初开 qíng dòu chū kāi
• 仓皇出逃 cāng huáng chū táo
• 倾巢而出 qīng cháo ér chū
• 出乎意外 chū hū yì wài
• 出乎意料 chū hū yì liào
• 出乎预料 chū hū yù liào
• 出人意外 chū rén yì wài
• 出人意料 chū rén yì liào

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.