仙人跳

xiānréntiào

noun

Meanings

1 badger game
2 a confidence trick in which a man is lured by an attractive woman and then extorted

Characters

immortal, fairy

Examples

他被仙人跳骗走了一大笔钱。

Tā bèi xiānréntiào piànzǒule yí dà bǐ qián.

He was conned out of a large sum of money in a badger-game scam.

出差时要小心仙人跳。

Chūchāi shí yào xiǎoxīn xiānréntiào.

Be careful of badger-game scams when on business trips.

Tips

culture

Literally 'immortal's leap' — the name comes from a Ming/Qing-era con where a 'fairy' lured a mark and her 'husband' suddenly burst in to demand compensation. The trope still appears constantly in Chinese crime news headlines.

Stroke Order

仙 xiān

人 rén

跳 tiào