自欺欺人 (zì qī qī rén) — to deceive oneself and others; self-deception coupled with deceiving others

Definition

An idiom meaning 'to deceive oneself while also fooling others' — a stronger, literary judgment than the plain verb 骗, used to condemn hypocritical self-deception rather than a single lie.

idiom
to deceive oneself and othersself-deception coupled with deceiving others

Examples

  • 自欺欺人，。
    Tā míng míng zhī dào zì jǐ zài zì qī qī rén, què hái yào jì xù sā huǎng.
    He clearly knows he's deceiving himself and others, yet he keeps lying.
  • ，自欺欺人。
    Wèn tí bǎi zài nà lǐ, bù chéng rèn jiù shì zì qī qī rén.
    The problem is right there; not admitting it is just deceiving yourself and others.
  • 自欺欺人，。
    Bié zài zì qī qī rén le, nǐ de jì huà gēn běn xíng bù tōng.
    Stop deceiving yourself and others — your plan simply won't work.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 自 →

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
欠欠qiànbreath
Sound part声符shēngfú
其
其qí欺qī
Same sound today

欺 is made of 其, which gives its sound, and 欠, which means breath.

Open 欺 →

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
欠欠qiànbreath
Sound part声符shēngfú
其
其qí欺qī
Same sound today

欺 is made of 其, which gives its sound, and 欠, which means breath.

Open 欺 →

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.

Open 人 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set Phrases

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