Chinese Idiom

掩耳盗铃🔊

Yǎn Ěr Dào Líng
📚 Idioms⏱ 3 min read🎧 Audio

This idiom means deceiving oneself by ignoring obvious facts.

The Story 🔊

Chūnqiū shíqī yǒu gè xiǎotōu xiǎng tōu yì kǒu dàzhōng
春秋Chūnqiū🔊时期shíqī🔊有个yǒu gè🔊小偷xiǎotōu🔊xiǎng🔊tōu🔊一口yì kǒu🔊大钟dàzhōng🔊
Zhōng tài dà le bān bú dòng
Zhōng🔊太大了tài dà le🔊搬不动bān bú dòng🔊
Tā xiǎng bǎ zhōng zásuì zài bānzǒu
他想Tā xiǎng🔊🔊zhōng🔊砸碎zásuì🔊zài🔊搬走bānzǒu🔊
Yì chuízi zá xiàqù zhōng fāchū jùdà de xiǎngshēng
一锤子Yì chuízi🔊砸下去zá xiàqù🔊zhōng🔊发出fāchū🔊巨大的jùdà de🔊响声xiǎngshēng🔊
Tā pà biérén tīngdào jiù wǔzhù zìjǐ de ěrduo
🔊🔊别人biérén🔊听到tīngdào🔊jiù🔊捂住wǔzhù🔊自己的zìjǐ de🔊耳朵ěrduo🔊
English Translation:
During the Spring and Autumn period, a thief wanted to steal a large bell. The bell was too big to carry. He thought of smashing it and then carrying the pieces away. When he struck it with a hammer, the bell made a huge sound. Afraid others would hear it, he covered his own ears.

Key Vocabulary

掩耳盗铃
yǎn ěr dào líng
cover ears to steal a bell
zhōng
bell
砸碎
zásuì
smash
捂住
wǔzhù
cover
耳朵
ěrduo
ears
小偷
xiǎotōu
thief

The Moral

Self-deception is foolish! This idiom means deceiving oneself by ignoring obvious facts.

Cultural Insight

掩耳盗铃 comes from "Lüshi Chunqiu" (吕氏春秋).