掛羊頭賣狗肉

See also: 挂羊头卖狗肉

Chinese
to hang; to put up; to suspend goat's head sell dog meat
trad. (掛羊頭賣狗肉) 掛 羊頭 賣 狗肉
simp. (挂羊头卖狗肉) 挂 羊头 卖 狗肉
Literally: “to sell dog meat while hanging a goat's head outside the shop as an advertisement”.

Etymology

Appeared in some Song dynasty books like 五燈會元 and 續傳燈錄, originally as 懸羊頭賣狗肉／悬羊头卖狗肉 (xuán yángtóu mài gǒuròu), for example:

二十年來坐曲彔床，懸羊頭賣狗肉，知它有甚憑據。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
二十年来坐曲彔床，悬羊头卖狗肉，知它有甚凭据。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: 釋惟白 (Song dynasty), 續傳燈錄·第31卷
Èrshí nián lái zuò qūlù chuáng, xuán yángtóu mài gǒuròu, zhī tā yǒu shèn píng jù. [Pinyin]
(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Which in turn was a variant of 懸牛首賣馬肉／悬牛首卖马肉 in Yanzi chunqiu:

君使服之於內，而禁之於外，猶懸牛首於門，而賣馬肉於內也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
君使服之于内，而禁之于外，犹悬牛首于门，而卖马肉于内也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Annals of Master Yan, c. 3rd century BCE
Jūn shǐ fú zhī yú nèi, ér jìn zhī yú wài, yóu xuán niú shǒu yú mén, ér mài mǎròu yú nèi yě. [Pinyin]
(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Pronunciation

Idiom

掛羊頭賣狗肉

  1. (figurative) to cry wine and sell vinegar; to do a bait and switch; to use a good cause as a cover for doing something bad

Synonyms

Descendants
  • → Vietnamese: treo đầu dê bán thịt chó (calque)
  • → Japanese: 羊頭を掲げて狗肉を売る (calque)
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