📖 Meaning
To die harboring unfulfilled regrets and unresolved grievances. It describes someone who passes away with lingering resentment or unachieved ambitions, carrying their sorrow to the grave.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Tang dynasty, in annotations by Li Xian and others citing the 'Biography of Yong' (《邕别传》). The speaker describes being in a perilous and isolated situation, with his life hanging by a thread amid the dangers of war, facing imminent destruction. He fears that his unexpressed thoughts will perish and decay along with his body, causing him to carry his regrets to the Yellow Springs—the mythological underworld in Chinese tradition.
💡 Example Usage
他未能完成父亲的遗愿，只能抱恨黄泉。
Unable to fulfill his father's dying wish, he could only carry his regrets to the grave.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 抱恨黄泉
- Pinyin: bào hèn huáng quán
- Literal Translation: harbor, regret, Yellow Springs (the underworld)
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4