📖 Meaning
To be so terrified and panicked that one's face turns pale or loses its normal complexion. It describes a state of extreme fright where the physical reaction—drained color from the face—is immediately visible.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Chapter 73 of 'The Three Heroes and Five Gallants' (三侠五义), a Qing dynasty novel by Shi Yukun. In the story, Prefect Ni and his servant Ni Zhong were feeling utterly helpless when they suddenly saw the door open. Believing that villainous servants had come to harm them, they were so terrified that their faces changed color. The phrase later appears in Li Ruzhen's Qing dynasty novel 'Flowers in the Mirror' (镜花缘), where two women turn pale with fright upon hearing that their husbands are trapped in a battle formation.
💡 Example Usage
听到门外传来急促的脚步声，他吓得惊慌失色。
Hearing the hurried footsteps outside the door, he was so terrified that his face turned pale.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 惊慌失色
- Pinyin: jīng huāng shī sè
- Literal Translation: startled, flustered, lose, color
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4