📖 Meaning
Literally means having a fish bone stuck in one's throat. It metaphorically describes the discomfort of having something to say but being unable or reluctant to say it, like an irritation that must be expelled. The idiom conveys the feeling of words pent up inside that one is burning to express.
📜 Origin Story
The origin traces to the Han dynasty scholar Xu Shen's work 'Shuowen Jiezi,' where the character 鲠 is defined as a fish bone lodged in the throat. The commentator Duan Yucai later noted that loyal remonstrance is like a bone in the throat—painful but necessary—and thus officials who speak blunt truth were called '骨鲠之臣' (bone-in-throat ministers). Over time, the phrase evolved to describe the psychological discomfort of unspoken words rather than physical obstruction.
💡 Example Usage
这件事他憋了很久，如骨鲠在喉，今天终于说了出来。
He had kept it bottled up for a long time; like a fish bone in his throat, he finally spoke out today.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 骨鲠在喉
- Pinyin: gǔ gěng zài hóu
- Literal Translation: bone, stuck, in, throat
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4