📖 Meaning
This idiom describes a situation so perilous that disaster is separated by less than the width of a thread. It conveys an extreme urgency where circumstances are critical to the utmost degree. It is synonymous with the more common idiom 间不容发.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from classical Chinese literature where the imagery of a space too narrow to admit a single thread was used to convey extreme danger or urgency. The image evokes a gap so thin that not even a fine thread could pass through, symbolizing how close one stands to catastrophe. It is closely related to and interchangeable with the idiom 间不容发, which uses the image of a hair instead of a thread. Both expressions draw on the same metaphorical logic of an impossibly narrow margin between safety and disaster.
💡 Example Usage
洪水来势凶猛，村民撤离已是间不容缕，稍有迟疑便会被洪流吞没。
The flood came with terrifying force; the villagers' evacuation was so narrowly timed that the slightest hesitation would have seen them swallowed by the torrent.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 间不容缕
- Pinyin: jiān bù róng lǚ
- Literal Translation: gap, not, allow, thread
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4