目不识丁 illiterate
Explanation
形容一个人不识字，一个字也不认识。
Describes someone who cannot read or write a single character.
Origin Story
唐朝时期，幽州节度使张弘靖手下有两员大将，韦雍和张宗厚。两人经常在一起喝酒聊天。一天，他们闲聊时感慨道："如今天下太平，我们这些将士们没事可做。与其整日舞刀弄枪，不如学些文化知识。你们能拉动两石弓，还不如识得一个字呢！" 他们的谈话，正说明了当时人们对文化知识的重视，以及识字的重要意义。从这个故事中，我们也明白，学习文化知识，无论在哪个时代，都是十分重要的。
During the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Hongjing, the military governor of Youzhou, had two generals under his command, Wei Yong and Zhang Zonghou. The two often drank and chatted together. One day, as they were chatting, they sighed: "Now that the world is at peace, we soldiers have nothing to do. Instead of wielding swords and spears all day long, we should learn some cultural knowledge. You can pull a two-stone bow, but it's not as valuable as knowing a single character!" Their conversation highlighted the importance of cultural knowledge and literacy at the time, and also shows the importance of literacy. From this story, we understand that learning cultural knowledge is very important in any era.
Usage
用来形容一个人不识字。
Used to describe someone who is illiterate.
Examples
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他目不识丁，却能写出优美的诗歌。
ta mubushi ding que neng xie chu youmei de shige. ta cong xiao mubushi ding houlai tongguo zixue chengweile yiming gongchengshi
He was illiterate, yet he could write beautiful poems.
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他从小目不识丁，后来通过自学成为了一名工程师。
He was illiterate as a child, but later he became an engineer through self-study.