猱搔虎痒 — “To feign subservience or flattery while secretly harming someone”

猱搔虎痒 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to feign subservience or flattery while secretly harming someone”. To engage in treacherous behavior under the guise of helpfulness. Literally, “An ape scratching a tiger's itch”.

Frequency

猱搔虎痒 Pronunciation and Pinyin

猱搔虎痒 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
猱	náo	12	Guqin vibrato technique
搔	sāo	12	scratch or rub lightly
虎	hǔ	8	Tiger; brave; intimidate
痒	yǎng	11	to itch

Example Sentence with 猱搔虎痒

他表面上对老板毕恭毕敬，暗地里却搞小动作，这简直是猱搔虎痒。

He appeared extremely respectful to the boss, but secretly engaged in petty tricks; this is exactly like an ape scratching a tiger's itch.

Origin and Story of 猱搔虎痒

Once upon a time, a tiger had an itchy head and asked a nimble ape (猱) to scratch it. The ape scratched diligently, creating a small hole in the tiger's skull, which the tiger found immensely comfortable and didn't notice.

Exploiting this, the ape secretly began to extract and consume the tiger's brain fluid through the hole, even cunningly offering some to the unsuspecting tiger. The tiger, flattered and believing the ape to be loyal, continued to allow this.

As time passed, the tiger's brain fluid diminished, causing unbearable pain. By then, the ape had already made its escape high into the trees, leaving the tiger to suffer the consequences of its misplaced trust.