And a line in the fifth-century work of literary criticism The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons says, "Riddles, by mixing up words, create puzzlement."
此外，隱語也是流行於士大夫間的外交辭令；還是宮廷裡一種文字娛樂，宮裡甚至設有「隱官」，做為隱語遊戲的顧問。文心雕龍曾說：「謎者，回互其辭，使昏也」，一語道盡謎的特性。