📖 Meaning
This idiom describes plagiarizing or stealing others' work both covertly and overtly. It refers to appropriating someone else's ideas, writings, or accomplishments through both hidden and brazen means. The phrase condemns intellectual dishonesty in all its forms.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom is composed of two paired opposites: 潜 (secretly) paired with 窃 (steal), and 阳 (openly) paired with 剽 (plagiarize). Together they form a parallel structure meaning to steal and plagiarize both in secret and in the open. It does not trace to a single literary source but reflects the classical Chinese rhetorical pattern of contrasting covert and overt actions. The expression is typically used to criticize those who pass off others' intellectual labor as their own.
💡 Example Usage
他在论文中潜窃阳剽，将他人成果据为己有，最终被学术委员会查处。
He secretly and openly plagiarized in his paper, passing off others' work as his own, and was ultimately investigated by the academic committee.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 潜窃阳剽
- Pinyin: qián qiè yáng piāo
- Literal Translation: secretly steal, openly plagiarize
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4