📖 Meaning
To hold a candle while standing in the wind. It is a metaphor for being in a perilous or precarious situation where one's safety is constantly threatened. The imagery evokes a flame that could be extinguished at any moment.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming dynasty anonymous play "Kan Jin Huan" (勘金环), Act Three. In the play, a character compares their life to a candle held against the wind, and to a bubble floating on water—both images of extreme fragility. The line vividly conveys the character's sense of imminent danger and helplessness. The phrase has since become a classical metaphor for precarious circumstances.
💡 Example Usage
他的处境恰似当风秉烛，随时都有倾覆的危险。
His situation is like holding a candle in the wind—in danger of collapse at any moment.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 当风秉烛
- Pinyin: dāng fēng bǐng zhú
- Literal Translation: facing the wind, holding, candle
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4