red herring
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red herring
Where it comes from
(figurative): One possible origin of the idiom was that red herring were used to train dogs to track scents. This was true, but the modern meaning of a false trail may have been popularized in a news story by English journalist William Cobbett, c. 1805, in which he claimed that as a boy he used a red herring (a cured and salted herring) to mislead hounds following a trail; the story served as an extended metaphor for the London press, which had earned Cobbett's ire by publishing false news accounts regarding Napoleon. The OED has another possible earlier origin in the legacy of clergyman Jasper Mayne in 1672 when he misled a servant by leaving him "Somewhat that would make him Drink after his Death" in a large trunk. When the trunk was opened, the contents were found to be red herring.
(soldier): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; soldier is, reciprocally, a slang term for the fish.
noun red herrings · red herring
- A herring that is cured in smoke and brine strong enough to turn the flesh red; a type of kipper. Up in the morning, and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending, by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before.
-
A clue, information, argument, etc. that is or is intended to be misleading, diverting attention from the real answer or issue.
Caroline visibly wavered for a second or two, much as a roulette ball might coyly hover between two numbers. Then she declined the tempting red herring.
Similar: decoy
- A red herring prospectus.
- A soldier. “Devil a bit, Ma’am,” said the Major. “We couldn’t afford it. Unless the world was peopled with J.B.’s—tough and blunt old Joes, Ma’am, plain red herrings with hard roes, Sir—we couldn’t afford it. It wouldn’t do.”
Translations
Every language
noun smoke-cured herring
| Español | arenque ahumado |
|---|---|
| Português | arenque defumado, arenque fumado |
| Français | hareng saur |
| Deutsch | Bückling |
| Italiano | aringa affumicata |
| Ελληνικά | καπνιστή ρέγγα kapnistí rénga |
| Русский | копчёная селёдка kopčónaja seljódka |
noun misleading clue
| Español | pista falsa, indicio falaz |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 煙幕彈 /烟幕弹 yānmùdàn |
| Português | pista falsa, cortina de fumaça |
| Français | diversion, leurre, hareng rouge, fausse piste |
| Deutsch | falsche Fährte, Nebelkerze, Ablenkung |
| Italiano | falsa pista, specchietto per le allodole |
| Ελληνικά | παραπλάνηση paraplánisi, αντιπερισπασμός antiperispasmós |
| Română | diversiune |
| Русский | ло́жный след lóžnyj sled, заговаривание зубов zagovarivanije zubov |
Talk about this word "red herring." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/red%20herring. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. red herring. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/red%20herring "red herring." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/red%20herring.Cite this
@misc{red_herring_2026,
title = {red herring},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/red%20herring},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
