📖 Meaning
To entertain unfounded or unnecessary anxieties; to worry about imaginary disasters. It describes someone who frets over threats that have no basis in reality.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Daoist work 《列子·天瑞》, attributed to Liezi of the Warring States period. It tells of a man in the state of Qi who feared that the sky might collapse and the earth cave in, and that he would have nowhere to stand; the dread made him unable to eat or sleep. A friend reassured him that the sky is accumulated qi and the earth solid, so there was nothing to fear. Later generations used the story as a metaphor for baseless worry.
💡 Example Usage
公司业绩连年增长，他却整天担心破产，真是杞国忧天。
The company's earnings have grown year after year, yet he spends every day fearing bankruptcy — truly worrying about the sky falling.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杞国忧天
- Pinyin: qǐ guó yōu tiān
- Literal Translation: Qi state, worry, heaven
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4