📖 Meaning
Literally meaning to lead a dog into one's stronghold. It is a variant of the more common idiom 引狼入室 (leading a wolf into the house), and similarly describes inviting a treacherous or hostile person into one's inner circle. The phrase warns that such carelessness can bring danger from within rather than from without.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single documented origin in classical literature and is regarded as a folk variant of the well-established phrase 引狼入室. The imagery of deliberately letting a dangerous animal into a defended enclosure would have been readily understood in agrarian and military society. Over time, 'dog' was substituted for 'wolf' while preserving the core metaphor of self-invited peril. It circulated primarily through vernacular speech rather than canonical texts.
💡 Example Usage
他轻信陌生人并带回家，简直是引狗入寨。
He trusted a stranger and brought him home—practically inviting trouble right through his own gate.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 引狗入寨
- Pinyin: yǐn gǒu rù zhai
- Literal Translation: lead, dog, enter, fortress
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4