畫虎不成反成犬

huàhǔbùchéngfǎnchéngquǎn ㄏㄨㄚˋ ㄏㄨˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄔㄥˊ ㄈㄢˇ ㄔㄥˊ ㄑㄩㄢˇ

    • to copy something ambitious badly and end up embarrassed

Character by character

Saying俗语俗語

Idiom惯用语 · Widely known

Literally
trying to draw a tiger and ending up with a dog
Meaning
A variant of 画虎不成反类犬: copying something ambitious badly and ending up as an embarrassment.

Sources