郢書燕說

See also: 郢书燕说

Chinese

		name of an ancient city	book; letter	swallow (bird); surname; place name	to speak; to say; persuade (politically)
trad. (郢書燕說)		郢	書	燕	說
simp. (郢书燕说)		郢	书	燕	说

Etymology

Literally “Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it”.

This idiom came from an anecdote told by Han Fei (韓非): A man from Ying (郢) in the state of Chu (楚) was writing a letter to the minister of Yan (燕). As he was writing at night, he ordered to “hold up the candle”, but he accidentally wrote down what he said. When the minister of Yan received the letter, he interpreted “hold up the candle” as “honor the enlightened” or “promote the wise”, which led to the regulation of the state of Chu.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yǐngshūyānshuō

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄥˇ ㄕㄨㄧㄢㄕㄨㄛ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: yǐngshūyānshuō
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄥˇ ㄕㄨㄧㄢㄕㄨㄛ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yyingshuianshuo
  - IPA ^(key): /iŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ ʂu⁵⁵ i̯ɛn⁵⁵ ʂu̯ɔ⁵⁵/

Idiom

郢書燕說

to misinterpret the original meaning; to distort the meaning in order to fit one's ideas; to pile up errors

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