📖 Meaning
Literally 'the sorrowful intestines are broken into inch-long pieces.' It describes being so overwhelmed with grief or worry that one's heart feels as though it is being torn apart. The idiom conveys sorrow of the most extreme, agonizing kind.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Jin dynasty poet Fu Xuan, whose 'Song of Clouds' (云歌) speaks of green mountains lingering 'for my sorrowful heart.' The full four-character form appears in the Tang dynasty writer Zhang Zhuo's 'You Xian Ku' (游仙窟), which describes a scene of tears streaming down the face, the sorrowful intestines broken inch by inch, sitting upright with a zither while blood and tears stain the garments. Together these sources cemented the idiom as a literary image of unbearable grief.
💡 Example Usage
自从丈夫远赴战场，她日夜思念，愁肠寸断。
Ever since her husband left for the battlefield, she has missed him day and night, her heart breaking with sorrow.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 愁肠寸断
- Pinyin: chóu cháng cùn duàn
- Literal Translation: sorrow, intestines, inch, break
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4