📖 Meaning
The seas boil and mountains split apart. A vivid metaphor describing an event or force of overwhelming magnitude and intensity, as if the very foundations of the world are being torn asunder. Also written as 海沸山摇 (sea boiling, mountains shaking).
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Ming Dynasty play '红拂记' (The Story of the Red Whisk) by dramatist Zhang Fengyi, specifically in the scene '髯客海归' (The Bearded Guest Returns to the Sea). The line reads: '坐谈间早辨龙蛇，把袖里乾坤做梦里蝴蝶，狠的人海沸山裂，不禁支发，空跌双靴.' It describes a person of such fierce and ruthless character that their power is comparable to seas boiling and mountains splitting, evoking a sense of cataclysmic, world-shaking force.
💡 Example Usage
两军交锋，杀声震天，海沸山裂。
The two armies clashed with battle cries shaking the heavens, as if the seas were boiling and the mountains were splitting apart.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 海沸山裂
- Pinyin: hǎi fèi shān liè
- Literal Translation: sea boiling, mountain splitting
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4