📖 Meaning
An idiom describing something of tremendous impact, scale, or intensity — literally earth-shattering. It is used for events, achievements, sounds, or actions so powerful that they seem to shake the heavens and the earth, leaving a profound impression on everyone who witnesses them.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase is classically traced to the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (白居易), who wrote in his poem 'Li Bai's Tomb' (《李白墓》): 'Pitiful are the bones in this barren grave and exhausted spring, yet once they produced writings that startled heaven and moved the earth' (可怜荒垄穷泉骨，曾有惊天动地文). Bai Juyi used the expression to honor the sublime, world-shaking power of Li Bai's poetry. Over the centuries the phrase escaped its literary origins and came to describe any phenomenon — a battle, an invention, a speech — of extraordinary force and consequence.
💡 Example Usage
这部电影的特效堪称惊天动地，让所有观众都为之震撼。
The special effects in this film were truly earth-shattering, leaving the entire audience in awe.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 惊天动地
- Pinyin: jīng tiān dòng dì
- Literal Translation: startle heaven, move earth
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4