睁着眼睛说瞎话

睜著眼睛說瞎話

zhēngzheyǎnjingshuōxiāhuà

idiom

Meanings

1 to lie through one's teeth
2 to tell a barefaced lie
3 to talk drivel with eyes wide open

Characters

to open (the eyes)

(durative particle)

blind / nonsensical

Examples

他明明拿了，还睁着眼睛说瞎话。

Tā míngmíng ná le, hái zhēng zhe yǎnjing shuō xiā huà.

He clearly took it, and yet he's still lying through his teeth.

数据摆在那里，你别睁着眼睛说瞎话。

Shùjù bǎi zài nàlǐ, nǐ bié zhēng zhe yǎnjing shuō xiā huà.

The data is right there — don't sit there telling barefaced lies.

Tips

memory

Literally: 'with eyes wide open, speak blind talk' (瞎话 = lies). The image is a person staring at the truth in front of them and still lying about it — exactly the English 'with a straight face' or 'barefaced'. The 着 here is the durative aspect particle (zhe), describing the lying happening while the eyes are open.

register

Colloquial and accusatory; deployed when calling someone out for an obvious lie. The shorter idiom 信口雌黄 (xìnkǒu cíhuáng) is the more literary equivalent.

Stroke Order

睁 zhēng

着 zhe

眼 yǎn

睛 jīng

说 shuō

瞎 xiā

话 huà