1.
hearing a hundred times; hearing something many times
Hearing about something repeatedly from others rather than experiencing it firsthand. Almost exclusively used in the proverb 百聞は一見にしかず (seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times).
百聞は一見にしかず。
Seeing is believing. (Hearing a hundred times is not worth seeing once.)
百聞は一見にしかずと言うから、実際に見に行こう。
They say seeing is believing, so let's go see it in person.
写真では伝わらない。百聞は一見にしかずで、現地に行ってこそ分かるものだ。
Photos can't convey it. As the saying goes, seeing is believing — you can only understand by going there yourself.
Composed of 百 (hundred) and 聞 (hearing). Almost always used as part of the proverb 百聞は一見にしかず, which comes from the Chinese historian Ban Gu's Book of Han. The equivalent English proverb is "Seeing is believing" or "A picture is worth a thousand words."
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 百聞は一見にしかず (seeing once is worth more than hearing a hundred times)
NOTE ON USAGE:
百聞 rarely appears independently outside this proverb. It is included as a dictionary entry because the proverb itself is extremely well-known and frequently used in Japanese.