📖 Meaning
Literally meaning 'numb and insensitive,' this idiom describes a person who is slow to react or completely unresponsive to external events. It conveys a lack of awareness or concern about what is happening around them.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase originates from a letter by the Ming dynasty thinker Li Zhi, titled 'Reply Letter to the Capital' (寄答留都书). In the letter, Li Zhi worried that if he praised someone with the term 'benevolent,' the local scholars and officials would all consider him a person who is 'numb and insensitive.' The expression combines the medical sense of paralysis (麻痹) with a lack of humane sensitivity (不仁), metaphorically describing moral or intellectual dullness.
💡 Example Usage
面对严重的安全隐患，他却麻痹不仁，最终酿成了大祸。
Faced with serious safety hazards, he remained completely unresponsive and insensitive, ultimately leading to a major disaster.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 麻痹不仁
- Pinyin: má bì bù rén
- Literal Translation: numb, paralyzed, not, sensitive
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4