道听途说
- Literal
- hear on the road, tell on the path
- Figurative
- Hearsay: something picked up in passing and repeated without checking; used to dismiss secondhand information or whoever spreads it.
Where does 道听途说 come from?
It comes from a remark by Confucius recorded in the 《论语》, in the 阳货 chapter: “道听而涂说，德之弃也”, that is, to hear something on the road and pass it on along that same road is to throw virtue away. 涂 was then used for 途, "road." Commentators read it as criticism of those who repeat what they have just heard without stopping to think about it or make it their own. Today the idiom has lost its preachy tone and is used to discredit secondhand news. It focuses on where a story comes from, not on how it wins out through sheer repetition, which is what 三人成虎 is about.
Source (出处): 《论语·阳货》
How is 道听途说 used? Two examples
- 这些都是道听途说，你别在群里乱转发。
That's all just hearsay, so don't go forwarding it around the group chat.
- 写新闻要有可靠的来源，不能靠道听途说。
A news story needs reliable sources; you can't build it on hearsay.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
