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).
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
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.