ChengYu: 自相矛盾 Meaning
"There once was a salesman who sold spears and shields..." Check out what the Chinese idiom "自相矛盾" means and how to use it in a sentence! It has to do with contradicting statements.
Traditional: 自相矛盾
Simplified: 自相矛盾
Pinyin: zì xiāng máo dùn
自相: mutual; each other
矛盾: contradiction
Individuals typically use this idiom to describe contradictions. The 矛 (máo) comes from 矛盾, which means spear. The 盾 (dùn) comes from 盾牌 which means shield.
One day as a man walked through the market, he heard a salesman selling spears and shields. The salesman said, “No spear in the world can pierce my shields!” Right after, the salesman said, “No shield in the world can block the strength of my spears!” The man asked the salesman, “What would happen if I used your spear to stab your shield? What would happen then?”
The salesman did not know how to answer the man’s question. From then on, people have used 自相矛盾 to describe a person who exaggerates the severity of a situation or a person who tells a story that contradicts itself.
HOW TO USE “自相矛盾” IN A SENTENCE
- 他说的话总自相矛盾，令我半疑半信。
- I never truly believe him because his stories always possess contradictions.
- 自相矛盾的话我从来不相信。
- I don’t trust stories with contradictions.
- 政客说的话向来都自相矛盾，所以我不会轻易的支持一个。
- I am careful with whom I support within politics because politicians typically make vague promises with contradictions.
Founded in 2004, TutorABC Global, the parent company of TutorABC Chinese, created the first commercially available synchronous learning portal in the world. TutorABC Global offers world class Chinese tutors at TutorABC Chinese. For English learning, it offers TutorABC, and tutorJr.
Like this post? Join uS to learn more!
