📖 Meaning
To be completely at a loss for words and arguments, with no reasoning left to offer. It describes a situation where someone has exhausted every possible justification and can no longer defend their position.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Song Dynasty Buddhist text 'Wudeng Huiyuan' (五灯会元), a collection of Chan Buddhist dialogues. It records the encounter between the monk Wen Yi (later known as Master Qingliang) and his teacher Luohan Chen. When Wen Yi presented his understanding and reasoning for over a month, his master repeatedly dismissed them with 'That is not how the Buddha Dharma works.' Eventually Wen Yi admitted he was at a complete loss for words and arguments. The phrase thus came to signify being utterly unable to continue one's line of reasoning.
💡 Example Usage
面对铁证如山，他终于词穷理绝，再也无法辩驳。
Faced with irrefutable evidence, he was finally at a complete loss for words and could no longer argue back.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 词穷理绝
- Pinyin: cí qióng lǐ jué
- Literal Translation: words exhausted, reason cut off
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4