📖 Meaning
This idiom describes passing on a statement that is already wrong and thus spreading it further, so that the error grows with each retelling. It is used to criticize people who repeat rumors or misinformation without verifying the truth. The phrase highlights how falsehoods become widely accepted through careless repetition.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom traces to the Southern Song dynasty scholar Yu Yan (俞琰) and his work 'Xi Shang Fu Tan' (《席上腐谈》). In the text, Yu Yan discusses the place name Caishi (采石), explaining that legend claims the goddess Nüwa (女娲) refined five-colored stones there to repair the sky, which supposedly gave the location its name. He notes that this story was passed down among the people even though it is groundless, and that the name and story simply spread onward unchanged in their error. The passage itself uses the phrase to characterize how an already false claim gets transmitted and thus perpetuated as if it were fact.
💡 Example Usage
这件事本无根据，却以讹传讹，闹得满城风雨。
The matter had no basis in fact, yet the false story was passed on and on until it stirred up the whole city.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 以讹传讹
- Pinyin: yǐ é chuán é
- Literal Translation: take, error, transmit, error
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4