Dictionary › 掩耳盗铃

掩耳盗铃

yǎn ěr dào líng

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 掩耳盜鈴

掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng) means "lit. to cover one's ears whilst stealing a bell; to deceive oneself; to bury one's head in the sand (idiom)". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 掩耳盗铃 means

1. lit. to cover one's ears whilst stealing a bell
2. to deceive oneself
3. to bury one's head in the sand (idiom)

The characters in 掩耳盗铃

• 掩yǎnto cover up; to conceal; to close (a door, book etc)…
• 耳ěrear; handle (archaeology); and that is all (Classical Chinese)
• 盗dàoto steal; to rob; to plunder
• 铃líng(small) bell

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read yǎn ěr dào líng correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.