掩耳盜鈴

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Chinese

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cover up; to surprise ear
steal; rob; plunder
steal; rob; plunder; a thief; bandit; robber
 
(small) bell
trad. (掩耳盜鈴)
simp. (掩耳盗铃)
alternative forms
anagram 盜鈴掩耳盗铃掩耳
Literally: “to cover one’s ears while stealing a bell”.

Etymology

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From a story in Lüshi Chunqiu:

百姓不可況然 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
百姓不可况然 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Lü Buwei, Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, 239 BCE
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 yǎněr. [Pinyin]
When the Fan family was wiped out, there was a thief who wanted to carry their 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

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Idiom

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掩耳盜鈴

  1. (figurative) to fool oneself; to bury one's head in the sand

Synonyms

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References

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