掩耳盜鈴

Chinese

	cover up; to surprise	ear	steal; rob; plunder steal; rob; plunder; a thief; bandit; robber	(small) bell
trad. (掩耳盜鈴)	掩	耳	盜	鈴
simp. (掩耳盗铃)	掩	耳	盗	铃
alt. forms	盜鐘掩耳／盗钟掩耳盜鈴掩耳／盗铃掩耳竊鈴掩耳／窃铃掩耳塞耳盜鐘／塞耳盗钟塞耳偷鈴／塞耳偷铃盜鐘掩耳／盗钟掩耳盜鈴掩耳／盗铃掩耳竊鈴掩耳／窃铃掩耳塞耳盜鐘／塞耳盗钟塞耳偷鈴／塞耳偷铃掩耳盜鐘／掩耳盗钟掩耳偷鈴／掩耳偷铃
Literally: “to cover one’s ears while stealing a bell”.

Etymology

From a story in Lüshi Chunqiu:

范氏之亡也，百姓有得鍾者，欲負而走。則鍾大不可負，以椎毀之，鍾況然有音。恐人聞之而奪己也，遽揜其耳。 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]
范氏之亡也，百姓有得钟者，欲负而走。则钟大不可负，以椎毁之，钟况然有音。恐人闻之而夺己也，遽揜其耳。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Fàn shì zhī wáng yě, bǎixìng yǒu dé zhōng zhě, yù fù ér zǒu. Zé zhōng dà bùkě fù, yǐ chúi huǐ zhī, zhōng huàngrán yǒu yīn. Kǒng rén wén zhī ér duó jǐ yě, jù yǎn qí ěr. [Pinyin]

When the Fan family was wiped out, there was a thief who wanted to carry the bell on his back and leave. Since the bell was too big for him to carry, he smashed it with a hammer, but the bell clanged loudly. For fear that people would hear it and take it from him, he quickly covered his ears.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yǎn'ěrdàolíng

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˇ ㄦˇ ㄉㄠˋ ㄌㄧㄥˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jim² ji⁵ dou⁶ ling⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: yǎn'ěrdàolíng [Phonetic: yáněrdàolíng]
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˇ ㄦˇ ㄉㄠˋ ㄌㄧㄥˊ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yeaneeldawling
  - IPA ^(key): /i̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ˀɤɻ²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ tɑʊ̯⁵¹ liŋ³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: jim² ji⁵ dou⁶ ling⁴
  - Yale: yím yíh douh lìhng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jim² ji⁵ dou⁶ ling⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: yim² yi⁵ dou⁶ ling⁴
  - IPA ^(key): /jiːm³⁵ jiː¹³ tou̯²² lɪŋ²¹/

Idiom

掩耳盜鈴

(pejorative) to fool oneself; to bury one's head in the sand

Synonyms

自欺欺人 (zìqīqīrén)

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