灯谜（riddles written on lanterns）又名文虎，猜灯谜，亦称打虎、弹壁灯、商灯、射、解、拆等，现在人们都习惯用"灯谜"一称。
     
    灯谜是我国劳动人民智慧的结晶,是我们民族传统的一门综合性艺术.早在夏代,就出现了一种用暗示来描述某种事物的歌谣.到了春秋战国时期,这种歌谣发展,演变成"瘦辞"(亦称"隐语").当时由于列国分争,有不少游客在进谏时,往往都用"隐语"道出已见,使君王从中得到启发.<<国语.晋语>>记载"有秦客瘦辞于朝,大夫莫之能对也."可见那时的这些"瘦辞"和"隐语",就是我国灯谜的雏形.直至南朝宋文学家鲍照作"井"、"龟"、"土"三个字谜，并以<<字谜三首>>收入他的诗集后，才有了"谜"字一称。
    
    开始的谜流行于口头说猜,三国时期有人把谜写在纸上贴出来令人猜对.到了南宋,有一些文人学士为了显示才学,常在元宵花灯之夜,将谜条贴在纱灯上,吸引过往行人,因之又有了"灯谜"一称.清中叶以后，谜风大盛，涌现了许多谜师。辛亥革命后，灯谜形成了南宗北派两种风格，到了旧社会，由于谜家大都是士大夫阶层，有些文人自命清高，片面强调风雅，排斥民间灯谜。解放后，在党的“百花齐放”的文艺方针指引下，灯谜活动更加蓬勃发展，，谜材谜作日益完善丰富，为建设社会主义精神文明和活跃群众文化生活作出了巨大的贡献。目前，在世界各地的华人华侨都有灯谜活动及灯谜学术交流。
   
    《谜语》古称“隐语”，“廋辞”。今通常指民间谜语。我国著名古典文艺理论家刘勰在《文心雕龙·谐隐》中说：“自魏代以来，颇非俳优，而君之嘲隐，化为谜语。谜也者，回互其辞，使昏迷也。或体目文字，或图像物品，纤巧以弄思，浅察以炫辞。义欲婉而正，辞欲隐而显。”他对谜语从理论上作了高度的概括，对谜语发展的历史，谜语的定义及其特征都作了深刻的分析和精辟的阐述。
         
    民间谜语与灯谜不同，灯谜属于文义谜，而民间谜语除了少量字谜外，都是以事物的特征来隐射的，因此，它属于事物谜。它主要着眼于事物的形体，性能，动作等特征，运用拟人，夸张、比喻等手法来描绘谜底，从而达到隐射的目的。
  
    它的谜底范围比较窄，除了少量字谜以外，极大多数都是事和物、如动物、植、用物、人体器官、自然现象、人类行为等。
 
    它的谜面往往是山歌体的民谣，以四句形式出现较多，讲究押韵而有节奏，读之可以琅琅上口，而且形象生动，便于口头传诵。
 
    由于民间谜语通俗易懂，故大多数都适宜少年儿童猜射。因此，有时也把民间谜语称作儿童谜语。自古以来，谜语由于其谜体不同，所以 桥代的厥称亦有所变化。
 
    谜语在春秋时叫“言隐”、“隐语”、“廋辞”；在汉时叫“射覆”、“离合”、“字谜”；在唐时叫“反语”、“歇后”；在五代叫“覆射”；在宋时叫“地谜”、“诗谜”、“戾谜”、“社谜”、“藏头”、“市语”；在元时叫“独脚虎”、“谜韵”；在明时叫“反切”、“商谜”、“猜灯”、“弹 壁”、“弹壁灯”、“灯谜”、“春灯谜”；在清时叫“谜子”、“谜谜子”、“切口”、“缩脚韵”、“文虎”、“灯虎”、“春谜”、“灯谜”等。
    
    2010年灯谜列入安阳市市级非遗项目，其保护单位安阳市工人文化宫在资金困难的情况下，将保护与发展灯谜列入工作规划，投入资金，保证传承人正常开展灯谜活动。在列入省级非遗项目之后，他们正在积极筹建“安阳灯谜”传承基地，使这项广大职工喜闻乐见的文化活动更加繁荣。 
       
     Riddles Written on Lanterns, also called Wenhu or guess riddles, is a traditional comprehensive folk art. Its original form appeared in Xia Era, but it didn't develop into Riddle until the intelligence Bao Zhao created three riddles and wrote them into his poems. In the beginning, there were only oral riddles. In the southern Song Dynasty, some literati pasted riddles on lanterns to show their knowledge and attract passengers. Thus, there appeared Riddles Written on Lanterns. Late Qing Dynasty, it prevailed and there appeared many riddles experts, later, it developed into southern and northern genres.
       
   Riddle was called argot in ancient times, nowadays it always refers to folk riddle. The famous classical writer of literary theory in our China, Liu Xie, made a high summary in theory and a profound analysis and explanation for riddles' history, definition and characteristics in his work The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. Folk riddle is different from riddles written on lanterns for the former is about things, while the latter is about the meaning of words. Since that folk riddles are easier to understand, most of them are suitable for children so that folk riddles are also called Children Riddles.