曾母投杼 — “Describes the formidable power of rumors”

曾母投杼 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “describes the formidable power of rumors”. Even a mother, initially confident in her son's innocence, eventually believes a false accusation after hearing it repeated many times. Literally, “Zeng's mother throws her shuttle”.

Frequency

曾母投杼 Pronunciation and Pinyin

曾母投杼 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
曾	zēng	12	have experienced
母	mǔ	5	mother, female, origin, nut
投	tóu	7	throw, cast, or invest
杼	zhù	8	loom shuttle; thin out

Example Sentence with 曾母投杼

这些不实的传闻，经过反复散播，最终让很多人信以为真，真是曾母投杼啊。

These unfounded rumors, circulated repeatedly, eventually led many to believe them, truly exemplifying the power of 'Zeng's mother throws her shuttle' where even strong conviction can be swayed by persistent falsehoods.

Origin and Story of 曾母投杼

During the Spring and Autumn period, in the State of Lu, there was a man who shared the same name as the great philosopher Zeng Shen. This other man committed a murder.

A busybody ran to Zeng Shen's mother and exclaimed, 'Zeng Shen has killed someone!' Zeng's mother replied, 'My son would not kill anyone,' and continued her weaving as usual.

Not long after, another person came again to falsely report that Zeng Shen had killed someone. At this point, Zeng's mother became frightened, threw her weaving shuttle, and climbed over the wall to flee.