📖 Meaning
Describes a state of extreme fear where one dares not move or breathe freely. The image is of someone so terrified that their feet seem frozen together and their breath held tight. It conveys pervasive dread and anxiety in the face of danger or oppression.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom first appears in the Biography of Liu Chen (柳忱传) in the Book of Liang (梁书), where it described how elders in the capital were so frightened by the court's reckless and wicked behavior that they dared not breathe freely. The Song dynasty historian Sima Guang later used the phrase in his Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance (资治通鉴) to depict an atmosphere of pervasive terror, where people felt insecure and sought only to survive, living in constant fear until the very end. The Ming dynasty History of Ming (明史·舒化传) also employed it to warn that arbitrary surveillance would terrify all good people.
💡 Example Usage
暴政之下，百姓重足累息，无人敢议论朝政。
Under the tyrannical rule, the common people were so terrified they dared not breathe freely, and no one ventured to discuss state affairs.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 重足累息
- Pinyin: chóng zú lèi xī
- Literal Translation: double, feet, accumulate, breath
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4