南朝·宋·范晔《后汉书·马援传》：“效伯高不得，犹为谨敕之士，所谓刻鹄不成尚类鹜者也。效季良不成，陷为天下轻薄子，所谓画虎不成反类狗者也。”

解释：画天鹅不成，仍有些像鸭子。比喻模仿的虽然不逼真，但还相似。也做“刻鹘类鹜”

to aim to carve a swan and get a semblance of a duck (idiom); to get a reasonably good, if not perfect, result; to fail utterly in trying to copy something