掩目捕雀 — “To deceive oneself”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 掩目捕雀?

遮着眼睛捉麻雀。比喻自己骗自己。

掩目捕雀 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to deceive oneself”. To bury one's head in the sand; to ignore obvious facts hoping they will disappear. Literally, “To cover one's eyes to catch sparrows”.

Frequency

掩目捕雀 Pronunciation and Pinyin

掩目捕雀 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
掩	yǎn	11	cover, conceal, ambush, close
目	mù	5	eye, item, or goal
捕	bǔ	10	catch, seize, or apprehend
雀	què	11	sparrow or small bird

Example Sentence with 掩目捕雀

如果你认为不承认问题就可以让问题消失，那无异于掩目捕雀

If you think that problems will disappear by not acknowledging them, that's no different from burying your head in the sand.

Origin and Story of 掩目捕雀

During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs and imperial relatives were fiercely contending for control of the imperial court. He Jin, an imperial relative, held the reins of government and secretly planned to summon Dong Zhuo to the capital to eliminate the eunuch's influence.

However, Chen Lin, He Jin's chief clerk, believed this plan was unworkable. He argued that it would be like 'covering one's eyes to catch sparrows,' warning that if the situation got out of hand, He Jin would lose the initiative.

He Jin ignored Chen Lin's advice and was eventually killed by the eunuchs.