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掩耳盜鈴

简掩耳盗铃 · 繁掩耳盜鈴

Mandarin · pinyin yǎn ěr dào líng

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

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Characters in this entry

掩: yǎn · to cover (with the hand); shut, conceal; ambush
耳: ěr · ear; merely, only; handle; Kangxi radical 128
盜: Look up this written character
鈴: Look up this written character
盗: dào · rob, steal; thief, bandit
铃: líng · bell

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3–4–2 · yan3 er3 dao4 ling2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

掩耳盜鈴 · find source passages ↗ · 掩耳盗铃 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jim2 ji5 dou6 ling4

Cantonese word readings for 掩耳盜鈴. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

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

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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