📖 Meaning
To rack one's brains and think deeply about something, devoting one's whole mind to contemplation or imagination. It describes the effort of pondering hard over a problem, idea, or creative work, often to the point of being lost in thought.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom is attested in modern Chinese literature, most notably in Ba Jin's creative memoirs (创作回忆录), where the writer reflects on his own working habits. In the essay on his novel, Ba Jin remarks that he never racked his brains when he picked up the pen, claiming he wrote quickly, even if critics called his work careless, as long as the work existed. His usage captures the idiom's sense of deliberately and anxiously straining one's thoughts. The four characters combine 苦 (painstaking), 思 (think), 冥 (deep/dark), and 想 (ponder), together meaning intense and absorbed mental effort.
💡 Example Usage
与其整天苦思冥想，不如去现场亲眼看看实际情况。
Rather than racking your brains all day, it's better to go to the site and see the actual situation with your own eyes.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 苦思冥想
- Pinyin: kǔ sī míng xiǎng
- Literal Translation: bitter, think, deep, ponder
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4