How do you pronounce 三人成虎?

三人成虎 is pronounced as "sān rén chéng hǔ" in Mandarin Chinese.

三人成虎

Q: What does 三人成虎 mean?

三人成虎 (sān rén chéng hǔ) literally means "Three people make tiger real" and metaphorically means "Repeated lie becomes truth". It belongs to the Wisdom & Learning category of Chinese idioms.

Q: When is 三人成虎 used?

三人成虎 is used when The untrue rumor about a product defect spread on social media until customers started believing it without evidence.

三人成虎 (sān rén chéng hǔ) literally means “three people make tiger real” and expresses “repeated lie becomes truth”. This idiom is used when describing situations involving wisdom and learning.

Also searched as: san ren cheng hu, san ren cheng hu,三人成虎 meaning, 三人成虎 in english

Repeated lie becomes truth

Pronunciation: sān rén chéng hǔ Literal meaning: Three people make tiger real

Origin & Usage

Pang Cong, about to leave Wei escorting a hostage prince to Handan, asked his king whether he would believe a man who reported a tiger (虎) in the marketplace. No. Two men? He would wonder. Three (三) men (人)? The king said he would believe it. There is no tiger in the marketplace, Pang Cong said, and Handan is a great deal further away than the marketplace is. Three reports make (成) the thing true regardless of whether it happened. The slanders came while he was gone, and he never got his audience again. The phrase names the mechanism rather than the liar, which is what keeps it useful.

Examples

English: "The untrue rumor about a product defect spread on social media until customers started believing it without evidence"

Chinese: 关于产品缺陷的不实传言在社交媒体上传播，直到顾客开始在没有证据的情况下相信它

Related Chinese Idioms

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三思而行

sān sī ér xíng

Weigh it before you move

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三省吾身

sān xǐng wú shēn

Self-reflect daily

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入木三分

rù mù sān fēn

Profoundly penetrating insight

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狡兔三窟

jiǎo tù sān kū

Always have backup plans

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马马虎虎

mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔ

Just so-so or passable quality

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退避三舍

tuì bì sān shè

Make concessions to avoid conflict

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绕梁三日

rào liáng sān rì

Lasting impact of performance

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丢三落四

diū sān là sì

Habitually forgetful and disorganized

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does 三人成虎 mean in English?

三人成虎 (sān rén chéng hǔ) literally translates to “Three people make tiger real” and is used to express “Repeated lie becomes truth”. This Chinese idiom belongs to the Wisdom & Learning category.