美人计

美人計

měirénjì

noun #31,146

Meanings

1 honey trap; the 'beauty trap' stratagem
2 scheme to entrap an enemy by sending in a beautiful woman

Characters

scheme, stratagem

Examples

敌方使了一招美人计，把机密给套出来了。

Dífāng shǐ le yī zhāo měirénjì, bǎ jīmì gěi tào chūlái le.

The enemy used a honey trap and got the secrets out of him.

他对美人计有所警惕，没有上当。

Tā duì měirénjì yǒu suǒ jǐngtì, méiyǒu shàngdàng.

He was wary of the honey trap and didn't fall for it.

Tips

history

Stratagem #31 of the 三十六计 (Thirty-Six Stratagems), the classic Chinese military-strategy compendium. The archetypal example is Diaochan (貂蝉) playing Dong Zhuo (董卓) and Lü Bu (吕布) against each other in 《三国演义》 — a love triangle engineered to get a tyrant killed by his own adopted son.

In Pop Culture

貂蝉 Diāochán

Diaochan

Legendary Three Kingdoms beauty whose love-triangle entrapment of the warlord Dong Zhuo and his adopted son Lü Bu is the textbook example of 美人计.

Stroke Order

美 měi

人 rén

计 jì