📖 Meaning
The skin breaks out in goosebumps and the thighs tremble uncontrollably. It describes a state of extreme terror or dread, where fear manifests physically throughout the body.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Liang Qichao's "Xinmin Shuo" (新民说, "On the New Citizen"), specifically the section "Lun Si De" (论私德, "On Private Morality"), written during the late Qing dynasty. Liang, a prominent reformist thinker, used the phrase to express his horror at a society where people took pride in doing evil, comparing such moral decay to floods and wild beasts. He wrote that any virtuous person contemplating this state of affairs would feel their skin crawl and their thighs quake with fear.
💡 Example Usage
深夜独行至坟场，他早已肤粟股栗。
Walking alone through the graveyard late at night, his skin was already covered in goosebumps and his thighs were trembling.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 肤粟股栗
- Pinyin: fū sù gǔ lì
- Literal Translation: skin, goosebumps, thigh, tremble
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4