误导

• Pinyin: wù dǎo
• Hanzi breakdown: 误 = 讠+ 吴 (speech/language + phonetic — to err, mistake); 导 = 巳 + 寸 (snake/lead + inch/hand — to guide, lead)

Meaning

To mislead; to misdirect; to cause someone to form a false or incorrect understanding through inaccurate or deceptive information.

Often implies deliberate or negligent provision of false information. Common in journalism, advertising regulation, legal discourse, and media criticism. 误导性广告 (misleading advertising) and 误导公众 (misleading the public) are standard phrases.

Examples

1. 该广告因包含误导性宣传内容，被监管部门责令立即下架并公开致歉。 Because it contained misleading promotional claims, the ad was ordered by regulators to be taken down immediately and to issue a public apology.
2. 这篇文章刻意断章取义，严重误导了读者对该政策实施效果的判断。 This article deliberately quotes out of context, seriously misleading readers’ judgment of how effective the policy has been.
3. 专家警告，网络上流传的大量未经核实的健康信息可能误导患者擅自更改治疗方案。 Experts warn that the large amount of unverified health information circulating online may mislead patients into changing their treatment plans on their own.

Usage Guide

Context: journalism, advertising, law, public affairs, media criticism

Tone: critical

Do Say

• 监管部门认定，该食品标签对营养成分的标注具有明显误导，足以让消费者误判其真实营养价值。(The regulator determined that the food label was clearly misleading in how it presented the nutrients, enough to make consumers misjudge its real nutritional value.)
• 新书指出，算法推荐的误导不只来自虚假信息，更来自呈现角度和情绪框架的选择，影响其实更深。(The new book points out that algorithmic recommendations mislead not only through false information, but also through the chosen angle and emotional framing, which can have a deeper impact.)

Don't Say

• 误导 for simple confusion caused by unclear instructions — use 使人困惑 or 表达不清; 误导 implies that the misleading content caused the recipient to form an incorrect belief or take a wrong action, not merely to feel confused

Origin & History

误 (error, mistake, mistakenly) + 导 (to lead, guide) — to lead astray; to guide someone into error

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal