半桶水

bàntǒngshuǐ
  1. (coll.) (of one's skills, knowledge etc) limited
  2. superficial
  3. half-baked
  4. sb with a smattering of knowledge (of sth)
  5. dabbler

CEDICT

colloquial

Entry Composition

1 半 bàn
  1. half
  2. semi-
  3. incomplete
  4. (after a number) and a half
2 桶 tǒng
  1. bucket
  2. (trash) can
  3. barrel (of oil etc)

classifiers: 個, 隻
3 水 shuǐ
  1. water
  2. (after a name) ... River
  3. to swim (used mostly in 会水 huìshuǐ and 水性 shuǐxìng)
  4. (coll.) lacking in substance; shoddy
  5. (bound form) additional cost; extra income
  6. classifier for washings of a garment