📖 Meaning
Describes extreme grief or overwhelming sorrow. The visceral image of vomiting out one's heart and drawing out one's own intestines conveys unbearable, soul-wrenching anguish. Used to portray someone utterly devastated by loss, tragedy, or heartbreak.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from volume 1 of Slapping the Table in Amazement, Part Two (《二刻拍案惊奇》), a collection of vernacular short stories by the Ming dynasty writer Ling Mengchu (凌濛初). In the text, the line '那些呕心抽肠的鬼，更不知哭到几时，才是住手' ('those ghosts vomiting hearts and drawing out intestines, none can tell when their weeping will ever cease') describes specters wailing in abject, unending sorrow. Ling Mengchu, active in the late Ming (Wanli to Chongzhen eras), is celebrated alongside Feng Menglong as one of the twin masters of the 'San Yan Er Pai' story collections. The book, completed during the Chongzhen reign, contains forty tales of everyday life, and this vivid phrase appears in a passage of profound grief. It has since crystallized into a four-character idiom denoting extreme sadness.
💡 Example Usage
闻听挚友离世，他呕心抽肠，久久难平。
Upon hearing of his close friend's passing, he was stricken with such heart-wrenching grief that he could not calm himself for a long time.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 呕心抽肠
- Pinyin: ǒu xīn chōu cháng
- Literal Translation: vomit, heart, draw out, intestines
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4