📖 Meaning
Sweat flows and soaks the entire back. It originally described being extremely frightened or terrified. It is now also used to describe sweating profusely, with the clothes on one's back completely soaked through, and is equivalent to the idiom 汗流浃背.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Old Tang Book' (旧唐书), in the Records of Emperor Zhaozong. During the late Tang dynasty, Emperor Zhaozong summoned his feudal lords Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu to court and confronted them for leading troops into the capital without imperial permission. Faced with the emperor's stern questioning, Maozhen and Xingyu were so terrified that sweat soaked their backs and they could not utter a word in reply.
💡 Example Usage
审讯室里，他紧张得汗流洽背，一句话也说不出来。
In the interrogation room, he was so nervous that sweat soaked his back and he could not say a word.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 汗流洽背
- Pinyin: hàn liú qià bèi
- Literal Translation: sweat, flow, soak, back
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4