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掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr-dào líng) — self-deception; to deceive oneself by ignoring obvious facts

Definition

A chengyu from a classical story: literally 'covering one's ears while stealing a bell.' It means fooling only yourself by ignoring obvious facts — like thinking that if you can't hear something, no one else can either.

phrase
self-deceptionto deceive oneself by ignoring obvious facts

Examples

  • ，掩耳盗铃。
    Tā xiǎng yǐn mán zhēn xiàng, zhè wán quán shì yǎn ěr-dào líng.
    He wants to hide the truth — that's pure self-deception.
  • ，掩耳盗铃？
    Bù chéng rèn zì jǐ de cuò wù, bú jiù shì yǎn ěr-dào líng ma?
    Refusing to admit your own mistakes isn't that just deceiving yourself?
  • 掩耳盗铃。
    Huí bì wèn tí zhī huì bèi shì wéi yǎn ěr-dào líng de xíng wéi.
    Avoiding the problem will only be seen as self-deception.

Origin

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
奄
奄yǎn掩yǎn
Same sound today

The left part 扌 is a hand; the right part 奄 gives the character its sound.

Open 掩 →

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

耳 is drawn as a picture of an ear.

Open 耳 →

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 盜; 盗 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 盜 combines 㳄 (drooling/craving) with a vessel shape, meaning to covet someone else's possessions and steal; 盗 is the simplified writing of 盜.

Open 盗 →

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 鈴; 铃 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng鈴líng
Same sound today

The traditional form 鈴 pairs 金 (metal) with 令 as a sound part; the simplified 铃 is a later abbreviation, so its parts are not the historical components.

Open 铃 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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