自相矛盾 zì xiāng máo dùn
The spear that pierces everything and the shield it cannot.
The short answer
自相矛盾 means to contradict yourself — literally, to turn your own spear (矛) on your own shield (盾). The Han Feizi salesman's impossible pair gave Chinese its everyday word for contradiction.
The story
The philosopher Han Fei tells of a man from Chu selling weapons in the market. Of his shields he said: nothing in the world can pierce them. Of his spears: they can pierce anything in the world. A bystander asked the obvious: “And if you take your spear to your shield?” The salesman could not answer.
Han Fei told it about doctrines that cannot both be true — but the arms dealer won immortality. From this single market stall Chinese derives the modern word 矛盾: contradiction.
What it means today
自相矛盾 is the standard description of inconsistent statements and people: a résumé claiming both perfectionism and easy-goingness, a policy praising thrift while spending doubles, the instant-messaging caveat that undoes the message before it.
Modern Chinese uses 矛盾 far beyond the idiom: 矛盾 is a contradiction, 有矛盾 means there is friction (between people or departments), and 心里很矛盾 means torn — wanting both things.
How to use it
Typical shape: 他先说没去过，后说去年去过，发言自相矛盾, “he first said he'd never been, then said he went last year — his statement contradicts itself”.
In use
2 examples简历里又说自己细心，又说自己大大咧咧，这不是自相矛盾吗？
The résumé claims both meticulousness and being carefree — isn't that a spear against its own shield?
他前后说法自相矛盾，很快就被人发现了。
His statements contradicted each other, and he was caught out quickly.
The characters
Explore individuallyIndividual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.
This guide is original Dengdeng editorial content, offered under CC BY-SA 4.0. The linked dictionary entries adapt CC-CEDICT under the same license.