Chinese-study newbie here! I recently saw the idiom "有过之而无不及," which the online dictionary translates as "to not be inferior in any aspect." I understand this on an idiomatic level, but am struggling to parse how the pieces come together on a literal level. Is it something like
有 过 之 而 无 不及 "cross it and not fall-short"?
有过之 - possibly be superior
而 - and
无不及 - (certainly) not be inferior = (at least) equal
有过之而无不及 = at or above a certain level
Example:
泰森的名氣比阿里的有过之而无不及 - Tyson's fame is comparable to Ali's and possibly greater
means totally better than you.
只能比你好，没有比你差 不管怎么比，都是如此。
It comes from classical Chinese, so the meanings and the grammatical structures are different from contemporary Chinese. In this phrase, "有"：be,have "过"：be superior to "之": that “而”：and "无": nothing "不及": be inferior to
