照猫画虎

zhào māo huà hǔzhaomaohuahu

lit. drawing a tiger using a cat as a model (idiom); fig. to follow a model and get things more or less right but without capturing the spirit of the subject
uninspired imitation

Characters in this word

Data from JMdict, KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG), KanjiVG, CC-CEDICT and Make Me a Hanzi. Sources and licences