背黑锅 (bēi hēi guō) — to be made a scapegoat; to take the blame for s… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

背黑锅 (bēi hēi guō) is a colloquial verb meaning 'to be made a scapegoat' — taking the blame for someone else's mistake. The 锅 (guō) literally means 'pot', but here it just paints the picture of the person unfairly saddled with blame.

verb

to be made a scapegoatto take the blame for someone else

Examples

背黑锅，。
Tā tì lǎo bǎn bēi hēi guō, jié guǒ bèi gōng sī kāi chú le.
He took the blame for his boss and ended up getting fired by the company.
，。
Zhè jiàn shì míng míng bú shì wǒ zuò de, wǒ què bèi le yí cì hēi guō.
This clearly wasn't my doing, but I became the scapegoat anyway.
背黑锅？
Nǐ wèi shén me zǒng shì ràng wǒ bēi hēi guō?
Why do you always make me take the blame?

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

黑锅black pot

黑hēiblack锅guōpot

偏正Modifier + head

背 carries a 黑锅, a black pot, so the sense is taking blame.

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.

北月背

Meaning part形符xíngfú

月Written in full as肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

北

北běi背bèi

Same sound today

背 was first written as 北; 北 gives the sound, and 肉 (meat, written as 月 here) was added to separate it from 北’s north meaning.

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

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 鍋; 锅 is its simplified writing.

金咼鍋

Meaning part形符xíngfú

金金jīnmetal

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi鍋guō

Same sound today

In the traditional form 鍋, 金 marks metal and 咼 provides the sound; the simplified 锅 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Idioms & Set Phrases

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.