📖 Meaning
To conceal one's true feelings and put on a false outward appearance. It describes someone who dissembles and acts in an affected manner to hide their real intentions or emotions. The phrase is also written as 矫情饰行.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom stems from classical Chinese moral discourse, where critics condemned officials and scholars who masked their true nature beneath an artificial demeanor. The variant form 矫情饰行 appears in historical chronicles to characterize court figures whose conduct belied their inner motives. It reflects a Confucian concern with authenticity versus affectation that runs through much of Chinese literary critique. Over the centuries the phrase generalized into a term for anyone disguising genuine feeling with studied behavior.
💡 Example Usage
他矫情饰貌多年，终究在众人面前露出马脚。
He hid behind a false front for years, but eventually exposed his true colors in front of everyone.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 矫情饰貌
- Pinyin: jiǎo qíng shì mào
- Literal Translation: feign feelings, gloss over appearance
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4