以讹传讹

以訛傳訛

yǐ'é-chuán'é

idiom #56,023

Meanings

HSK 3

网上的消息常常以讹传讹，不能全信。

Wǎngshàng de xiāoxi chángcháng yǐ'é-chuán'é, bùnéng quán xìn.

Online news often spreads errors on top of errors - don't believe everything.

HSK 7-9

这个传说以讹传讹，早已失去原貌。

Zhège chuánshuō yǐ'é-chuán'é, zǎoyǐ shīqù yuánmào.

This legend has been distorted through retelling and lost its original form.

HSK 7-9

我们要核实信息，避免以讹传讹。

Wǒmen yào héshí xìnxī, bìmiǎn yǐ'é-chuán'é.

We must verify information to avoid spreading errors further.

history

From 俞琰's 《席上腐谈》 (Song dynasty): the folk etymology for Caishi (Anhui) was originally a mistake, then propagated 以讹传讹.

grammar

Pinyin requires two apostrophes: yǐ'é-chuán'é, because both 讹 syllables start with a vowel after a preceding syllable.

以 yǐ

讹 é

传 chuán