Mandarin Chinese, how to say – His lies were flawless, and we were all fooled by him.
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他的谎言天衣无缝，我们都被他愚弄了。
tā de huǎngyán tiān yī wúfèng , wǒmen dōu bèi tā yúnòng le .
tā de (他 pronoun, he; 的 de, possessive particle; 他的 tā de means his ) huǎngyán (谎言huǎng means lies; yán means words; huǎngyán is noun which means lying words or lies) tiān yī wúfèng ( 天 tiān means sky; 衣 yī means clothes; 无 wú means without; 缝 fèng means seam; together 天衣无缝 tiān yī wú fèng means seamless or flawless), wǒmen ( 我们plural pronoun, we) dōu (都 adverb, all) bèi ( 被 passive voice marker or passive structure = V+ed) tā ( 他 pronoun, he or him) yúnòng ( 愚弄 verb, fool or dupe) le (了sentence final particle).
天衣无缝 is a Chinese idiom with an ethereal story. It comes from 《灵怪录·郭翰》 [líng guài lù – Guō Hàn] (Record of Strange Spirit. Guō Hàn) written by 牛峤 Niu Qiao of 前蜀 pre-Shu in the Five Dynasties 五代. The story goes:
In ancient 唐 Tang dynasty of China, there was a gentleman 郭翰 Guō Hàn. Mr. Guō was a poet as well as a fine artist. One summer night he was sitting under the tree in his yard for he was not able to fall into sleep. Under the summer breeze, Mr. Guō enjoyed the beautiful summer midnight with twinkles in his eyes. It was good that there were no swarms of mosquitoes buzzing all over him in the story.
Suddenly, he saw a beautiful girl in white sparkling gown lightly descending from the sky and in a split minute, she gently alighted upon the ground without making any crashing sound. Mr. Guō was gravely startled but amazed by the grace and delicacy of this fairy girl. Then, this girl lightly walked to him like a white flowery cloud. Mr. Guō Hàn was awe-struck by this drop dead gorgeous fairy (She was not dead at all as we all know, for she was so agile and as light as smoke or dew.), and couldn’t utter 你好 nǐhǎo or knee how (he might have a shaky knee?).
The beauty told him that she was the Weaver Girl came from Heaven. Guō continued remaining in trance stage and stared at this Weaving Girl. A while later, Mr. Guō got back his calmness and poise and started to chat with this girl from heaven. He asked her how heaven looked like and why she came down to the human world. The girl told him that heaven is as wonderful and fragrant as flowers. However, living in heaven is like staying inside a room full of flowers all day, after a while, the nose will not be able to sense the fragrance at all. That is why she needed to take a break and landed on somewhere different. Then, he noticed her white shimmering gown was one uncut piece of silky, softy, sparkling white without the slightest sign of sewing.
Mr. Guō Hàn couldn’t help but ask: “Why does your dress show no trace of needle sewing?”
With a bright, clever smile, the girl gracefully replied: “ Good question 🙂 I’m a fairy from Heaven. Garments for immortals are not sewn by needles and threads. How can there be any signs of seams?”
At the end of story, the fairy girl swiftly and magically disappeared like the way she came, and left Guō Hàn a world of wonder and confusion.
From this magical man and fairy encounter story comes the idiom 天衣无缝(Tiān yī wú fèng). We use it to describe a well-conceived plan or something which is faultless or flawless.
Literally, 天衣无缝(Tiān yī wú fèng) means heaven clothes without seams. Later, it refers to being watertight. It can be a plan or a devise is impossible to defeat or doubt or nullify.
For example,
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他的文章有条有理，段落清楚， 重点分明， 真是天衣无缝呀。
tā de wénzhāng yǒutiáo yǒulǐ, duànluò qīngchu , zhòngdiǎn fēnmíng , zhēnshì tiān yī wúfèng yā.
His article is clear and orderly with clear paragraphs and clear focuses. It was flawless like heaven clothes without seams!
他要用他天衣无缝的计谟去害人。
tā yào yòng tā tiān yī wúfèng de jì mó qù hài rén .
He wants to use his flawless strategies to harm people.
Synonym
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完美无瑕– perfect without flaw– wán měi wú xiá, wán měi (perfect) wú (no or without) xiá ( fault in gem)
他的个性真是完美无瑕。
tā de gèxìng zhēnshì wánměi wú xiá .
His personality really is perfect.
完美无缺– perfect without flaw– wán měi wú quē, wán měi (perfect) wú (no or without) quē (flaw)
完美无缺的人是不存在的。
wánměi wú quē de rén shì bù cúnzài de。
Perfect person does not exist.
毫无缺点– without a bit of flaw — háo wú quē diǎn, háo wú （not in the least / to completely lack ） quē diǎn （weak point / fault / shortcoming）
他的女朋友脾气一点也没有，真是完美， 毫无缺点。
tā de nǚpéngyou píqì yīdiǎn yě méi yǒu , zhēnshì wánměi , háowú quēdiǎn .
His girlfriend doesn’t have a bit of temper; really perfect, flawless.
Antonym
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千疮百孔 — riddled with gaping wounds — qiān chuāng bǎi kǒng, qiān (thousand) chuāng (wound) bǎi (hundred) kǒng (hole)
飓风过後，这个房子千疮百孔。
jùfēng guò hòu , zhège fángzi qiān chuāng yībǎi kǒng .
After the hurricane, the house was riddled with gaping wounds.
漏洞百出 — one hundred loopholes or full of mistakes — lòu dòng bǎi chū, lòu (leaking) dòng (holes) bǎi (hundred) chū (come out)
他的说法，前後不一，漏洞百出。
tā de shuōfa , qiánhòu bùyī , lòu dòn gbǎi chū .
The way he said is inconsistent and full of mistakes.
Stop And Stare
By OneRepublic