嫁祸于人 (jià huò yú rén) — to shift the blame or misfortune onto someone e…

Definition

A four-character idiom meaning to shift blame or misfortune onto an innocent person — a deliberate, morally wrong act of scapegoating.

idiom

to shift the blame or misfortune onto someone else

，嫁祸于人。
Tā míng míng shì zì jǐ méi zuò hǎo, què xiǎng jià huò yú rén.
He clearly didn't do it well himself, yet he wants to shift the blame onto others.
嫁祸于人。
Zhè zhǒng jià huò yú rén de zuò fǎ hěn bú dào dé.
This kind of blame-shifting behavior is very immoral.
，，嫁祸于人。
Chū le wèn tí, wǒ men yīng gāi fǎn sī zì jǐ, ér bú shì jià huò yú rén.
When a problem arises, we should reflect on ourselves rather than shift the blame onto others.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女家嫁

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

家

Same sound today

嫁 uses 女 to show it relates to a woman, and 家 to give its sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 禍; 祸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

示示shìsacrifice

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi禍huò

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 祸 is an abbreviation of traditional 禍, which pairs 示 (sacrifice) with 咼 to show pronunciation.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old shape of 于 may have pictured an ancient wind instrument. Another explanation reads 一 as a flat stream of air and 丂 as an exhaling mark.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.