📖 Meaning
To be extremely fatigued to the point of being unable to endure it. It describes a state of total physical or mental exhaustion. The phrase emphasizes that the tiredness has reached an unbearable level.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from 'Wu Song Yanyi' (武松演义), a vernacular novel by the Qing Dynasty author Liu Caonan that retells the story of the Song Dynasty hero Wu Song. In the tenth chapter, prisoners who are subjected to the beating rod cannot sit or lie comfortably, forced to huddle together in misery, left utterly exhausted. The phrase vividly conveys the physical suffering and depletion of the condemned.
💡 Example Usage
连续加班三天后，他已经疲惫不堪，连说话的力气都没有了。
After working overtime for three days straight, he was so utterly exhausted that he didn't even have the energy to speak.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 疲惫不堪
- Pinyin: pí bèi bù kān
- Literal Translation: exhausted, not, able to endure
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4