📖 Meaning
Describes an overwhelming and unshakable sorrow as vast as the sea and as heavy as a mountain. The idiom conveys a state of deep gloom and melancholy that feels impossible to dispel or escape.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Yuan dynasty play 'The Story of the Boudoir' (《幽闺记》) by Shi Hui (施惠), specifically in the scene 'Worshipping the Moon in the Boudoir.' In the play, a character is overcome with grief upon hearing a name and hometown, lamenting that sorrow engulfs her like a mountain and sea, causing unstoppable tears. The vivid imagery of sea and mountain conveys the immensity of emotional suffering in classical Chinese literature.
💡 Example Usage
丧夫之痛让她陷入闷海愁山，整日以泪洗面。
The pain of losing her husband plunged her into an ocean of stifling sorrow, and she spent her days weeping.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 闷海愁山
- Pinyin: mèn hǎi chóu shān
- Literal Translation: stifling sea, sorrow mountain
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4