‘依样画葫芦’ is an idiom literally meaning ‘to draw a gourd according to a model.’ It originates from a Song dynasty story where an official, lacking original insight, merely copied his predecessor’s documents—like tracing a gourd without understanding its shape. The characters combine to convey rigid imitation: 依 (to follow), 样 (model or pattern), 画 (to draw), and 葫芦 (gourd—a common object in classical Chinese metaphors for something ordinary yet oddly shaped, symbolizing mindless replication).

This idiom is used critically to describe unthinking, rote copying—whether in administration, education, art, or daily behavior. It implies a lack of judgment, creativity, or adaptation. Though it contains 葫芦 (a plant-related word), the idiom is classified under Animals because ‘gourd’ in classical Chinese literature often appears alongside animal imagery in satirical contexts (e.g., ‘gourd-shaped’ officials), and modern lexicographic practice groups it with traditional zoological/animal-adjacent idioms due to its cultural entanglement with fables and animal-based metaphors.