💻 A fake program 🐴 A hidden trap

Trojan Horse

4.7

A large hollow wooden horse that hides soldiers to let them enter the city of Troy secretly

noun
/ˈtroʊdʒən hɔrs/

Literature

: Caballo de Troya

The Greeks used a Trojan Horse to secretly enter the city of Troy and defeat its defenders.

In fact, that's where the expression of Trojan Horse comes from.

Examples

The expression 'beware of Greeks bearing gifts' comes from the story of the Trojan Horse.
They built a replica of the Trojan Horse for the museum exhibit.
The legend of the Trojan Horse has fascinated historians and writers for centuries.
The Greeks used a Trojan Horse to infiltrate the city.
Have you heard about the Trojan Horse in Greek mythology?
In the tale, the Trojan Horse was a deceptive gift that led to the fall of Troy.
The story of the Trojan Horse illustrates the dangers of trusting appearances without question.

Synonyms

Wooden Horse

vsTrojan Horse

Literature

1 8.1

A large hollow wooden figure of a horse that hides soldiers so they can enter a city

is the traditional proper name for that same hidden-soldier wooden figure

Surface Forms

Trojan Horse singular

Trojan Horses plural

Morphology

Trojan + Horse

The meaning is a metaphorical extension from the Greek myth (a deceptive wooden horse used to smuggle invaders in), so the core idea of deception/hidden threat is derivable once the cultural story is known. However, a B1 learner who only knows the literal senses 'Trojan' (person from Troy) and 'horse' is unlikely to infer the specific modern computing sense (malicious software disguised as legitimate code) without encyclopedic/cultural knowledge, so it is partially but not fully transparent.

Etymology

Trojan Horse comes from a Greek story: the Greeks left a large wooden horse as a 'gift' to the city of Troy, but soldiers were hiding inside so they could secretly enter. That's why Trojan Horse now means 'a hidden trick' or 'something that hides danger'.