📖 Meaning
This idiom literally means crying out to heaven and wailing to the earth. It describes someone in extreme grievance, resentment, or anguish, expressing desperate and overwhelming sorrow. The phrase conveys a sense of helpless, inconsolable suffering.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Zhou Mi's 'Qi Dong Ye Yu' (Wild Words of the Eastern Qi), a Song dynasty notebook, in the chapter 'Jiading Baoxi' concerning the imperial seal of the Jiading era. The passage recounts how the author's ancestors and father devoted themselves entirely to the royal treasure, perishing either at the hands of foreign invaders or bandits. Their descendants cried out to heaven and earth in grief, with a bitterness and resentment that could never be erased.
💡 Example Usage
听闻噩耗，他呼天号地，悲痛欲绝。
Upon hearing the tragic news, he cried out to heaven and earth, overwhelmed with grief.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 呼天号地
- Pinyin: hū tiān hào dì
- Literal Translation: call to heaven, wail to earth
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4