📖 Meaning
Describes an overwhelming state of terror or fright, so intense that one's soul seems to scatter and one's spirit to fly away. It is used to depict someone completely paralyzed or panic-stricken by fear.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom appears in Yuan-dynasty dramatic literature, most notably in the anonymous play "Baihua Pavilion" (《百花亭》) where it is used to describe a moment of desperate fright. It also appears in Ming-dynasty playwright Xu Lin's (徐霖) "The Embroidered Jacket" (《绣襦记》), where a character is said to be so horrified that his soul scatters and spirit flees. Originating in Yuan and Ming drama, the phrase conveys the classical Chinese view that extreme fear causes the soul to leave the body, and it later became a standard four-character idiom for terror.
💡 Example Usage
夜半听到那声惨叫，我吓得魄散魂飞，连跑都忘了。
Hearing that scream in the dead of night, I was so terrified my soul scattered and spirit fled, forgetting even to run.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 魄散魂飞
- Pinyin: pò sàn hún fēi
- Literal Translation: soul scattered, spirit flew away
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4