📖 Meaning
A colossal, heaven-reaching catastrophe or disaster. It describes a calamity so immense that it seems to fill the entire sky, causing devastating and irreversible consequences. Often used for grave offenses, catastrophic losses, or ruinous trouble brought upon oneself.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to Yuan dynasty drama, appearing in the anonymous play 'Pen'er Gui' (《盆儿鬼》), where a character laments that a person has brought a heaven-filling catastrophe upon himself by his own reckless actions. The idiom builds on the classical use of '弥天' (filling the sky) to signify something boundless or all-encompassing, paired with '大祸' (great disaster). Over the centuries it entered common usage in vernacular fiction and storytelling to describe catastrophic misdeeds and their consequences.
💡 Example Usage
他意识到自己闯了弥天大祸，吓得连夜逃离了家乡。
He realized he had brought about a colossal catastrophe and fled his hometown in terror that very night.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 弥天大祸
- Pinyin: mí tiān dà huò
- Literal Translation: fill, heaven, great, disaster
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4