📖 Meaning
To keep sighing with long and short breaths continuously. It describes a distressed or worried look, often shown through repeated sighing. The idiom conveys a melancholic mood arising from anxiety, sorrow, or frustration.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Yuan dynasty collection 'Yuefu Qunzhu' (乐府群珠), in an anonymous poem titled 'Jinzi Jing' (金字经), which contains the line 'three or two sounds of short sighs and long sighs.' It also famously appears in Wang Shifu's classic Yuan dynasty play 'Romance of the Western Chamber' (西厢记), where the lovesick scholar Zhang Junrui sighs endlessly thinking of Cui Yingying. Through these classical literary works, the phrase became a standard expression for depicting deep worry and melancholy.
💡 Example Usage
他最近总是愁眉不展，整天长吁短叹的，不知出了什么事。
He's been frowning and sighing endlessly all day; I wonder what could have happened.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 长吁短叹
- Pinyin: cháng xū duǎn tàn
- Literal Translation: long, sigh, short, sigh
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4