郢书燕说 in English Ying3 shu1 Yan1 shuo1 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it
  • metaphorically to misinterpret the original meaning
  • to pile up errors
  • refers to the letter from capital 郢[Ying3] of 楚[Chu3] in which the inadvertent words "hold up the candle" are mistaken by the minister of 燕[Yan1] as "promote the wise"

Simplified Characters

郢 书 燕 说

Traditional Characters

郢 書 燕 說

Pinyin

Ying3 shu1 Yan1 shuo1

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

郢ying3Ying, ancient capital of Chu 楚 in Hubei, Jianling county 江陵縣|江陵县 书shu1abbr. for 書經|书经[Shu1 jing1] 燕yan4Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in modern Hebei and Liaoning 说shuo1to persuade