📖 Meaning
Describes a person who lives in constant fear and extreme caution, as if cramped under a vast sky and treading gingerly on thick earth. The idiom conveys a state of psychological unease and self-constraint, where one dares not act freely or stretch beyond the narrowest bounds of safety.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom derives from a passage in the 'Book of Songs' (《诗经·小雅·正月》), which laments: 'They say heaven is high, yet one dares not but crouch; they say earth is thick, yet one dares not but tread lightly.' The original context describes the terror of living under the oppressive and tyrannical rule of King You of Zhou (周幽王), where even the most basic freedoms were crushed. Over time, the phrase was condensed into '局高蹐厚' to evoke the image of a person bent and cowering between the infinite sky and the solid ground, capturing the universal human experience of being paralyzed by fear or political oppression.
💡 Example Usage
乱世之中，百姓局高蹐厚，朝不保夕。
In those turbulent times, the common people lived in constant fear and trepidation, never knowing if they would survive the day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 局高蹐厚
- Pinyin: jú gāo guǎ hòu
- Literal Translation: crouch, high, tiptoe, thick
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4