📖 Meaning
Derived from Zhao Gao's story of calling a deer a horse, this idiom metaphorically means to deliberately confuse right and wrong or distort the truth. It describes a situation where facts are willfully misrepresented so that even the fundamental nature of things appears altered.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Book of Later Han, Biography of Cui Qi' (《后汉书·崔琦传》), where Cui Qi warned against silencing critics and deceiving the ruler, asking whether one could truly make horses and deer swap their forms. It alludes to the infamous Qin Dynasty episode in which the powerful eunuch Zhao Gao brought a deer before the Second Emperor and insisted it was a horse, using the absurd claim to identify which officials would dare oppose him. Those who remained silent or agreed were spared; those who told the truth were later executed. The idiom thus came to symbolize the deliberate inversion of truth by those in power.
💡 Example Usage
奸臣当道，马鹿异形，忠良之士难以立足朝堂。
With treacherous ministers in power distorting truth and right and wrong, loyal and upright officials could no longer hold their ground at court.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 马鹿异形
- Pinyin: mǎ lù yì xíng
- Literal Translation: horse, deer, different, form
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4