半路出家

1. • to enter monastic life at a mature age (idiom)

     lit.

2. • to change one's career to take up a new line of work or specialization to enter a profession from a different background

     fig.

Character by character

• 半(bàn)half
• 路(lù)line
• 出(chū)(used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result)
• 家(jiā)family