Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 掩耳盗铃

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
掩耳盗铃 yǎn ěr dào líng - lit. to cover one's ears whilst stealing a bell
- to deceive oneself
- to bury one's head in the sand (idiom)

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
- - 39,747 54,959 29,160

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
yǎn- to cover up; to conceal
- to close (a door, book etc)
- (coll.) to get (one's fingers etc) caught when closing a door or lid
- (literary) to launch a surprise attack
ěr- ear
- handle (archaeology)
- and that is all (Classical Chinese)
dào- to steal
- to rob
- to plunder
- thief
- bandit
- robber
líng- (small) bell
- CL:隻|只[zhi1]

Other Words Containing 掩耳盗铃

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
掩耳盗铃 - - 39,747 54,959 29,160