<p>You can't explain it character by character.</p>
<p>To misquote Shakespeare, I would say, the general meaning is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Clothes maketh <em>not</em> the man.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>郑玄 注：“襌为絅，锦衣之美，而君子以絅表之，为其文章露见似小人也。”</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-06T08:29:57.267Z
2021-04-06T08:29:57.267Z
Pedroski
<p>You probably mean 衣錦尚<strong>絅</strong> here.</p>
<p>衣：to wear</p>
<p>锦：brocade (clothes)</p>
<p>尚：to add</p>
<p>絅：unlined outer garment, usually made from linen</p>
<p>Literally the phrase means &quot;To wear brocade inside, and add linen overall robe outside&quot;</p>
<p>The phrase was originally from <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%AF%97%E7%BB%8F" rel="noreferrer">诗经</a> as in “碩人其頎，衣錦褧衣。” where 褧 is a interchangeable character to 絅. And <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E4%B8%AD%E5%BA%B8#:%7E:text=%E3%80%8A%E4%B8%AD%E5%BA%B8%E3%80%8B%E6%98%AF%E5%84%92%E5%AE%B6%E7%B6%93%E5%85%B8%E7%9A%84,%E9%81%93%E5%8F%8A%E5%B8%B8%E7%90%86%E2%80%9D%E4%B9%8B%E6%84%8F%E3%80%82" rel="noreferrer">中庸</a> as in 詩曰：『衣錦尚絅，惡其文之著也。』</p>
<p>The phrase is a metaphor that real noble people would hide their virtues under humbleness.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-06T08:33:44.817Z
2021-04-06T08:33:44.817Z
Felix Zhang
<p>Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character? I tried wiktionary but to no avail 
This is supposed to mean &quot;She covered her brocade gown with a plain robe.&quot;
Source: <a href="http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/docofmean.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/docofmean.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-06T08:13:33.933Z
Can you provide some context?
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-06T08:21:46.447Z
Sure, I edited my original question.
lingo_journey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-06T20:53:08.400Z
As a Chinese, I only know the meaning of the first two chars and I cant even pronounce the last character
Yujie
<classical-chinese>
Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character?
# Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-04-06)

Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character? I tried wiktionary but to no avail
This is supposed to mean "She covered her brocade gown with a plain robe."
Source: <http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/docofmean.html>

**Tags:** classical-chinese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you provide some context?  
> **username_0**: Sure, I edited my original question.  
> **username_2**: As a Chinese, I only know the meaning of the first two chars and I cant even pronounce the last character  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-04-06. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

You probably mean 衣錦尚**絅** here.

衣：to wear

锦：brocade (clothes)

尚：to add

絅：unlined outer garment, usually made from linen

Literally the phrase means "To wear brocade inside, and add linen overall robe outside"

The phrase was originally from [诗经](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%AF%97%E7%BB%8F) as in “碩人其頎，衣錦褧衣。” where 褧 is a interchangeable character to 絅. And [中庸](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E4%B8%AD%E5%BA%B8#:%7E:text=%E3%80%8A%E4%B8%AD%E5%BA%B8%E3%80%8B%E6%98%AF%E5%84%92%E5%AE%B6%E7%B6%93%E5%85%B8%E7%9A%84,%E9%81%93%E5%8F%8A%E5%B8%B8%E7%90%86%E2%80%9D%E4%B9%8B%E6%84%8F%E3%80%82) as in 詩曰：『衣錦尚絅，惡其文之著也。』

The phrase is a metaphor that real noble people would hide their virtues under humbleness.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2021-04-06. Score: 0

You can't explain it character by character.

To misquote Shakespeare, I would say, the general meaning is:

> Clothes maketh *not* the man.

郑玄 注：“襌为絅，锦衣之美，而君子以絅表之，为其文章露见似小人也。”


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