📖 Meaning
Describes a state of extreme fury or rage, as if smoke were billowing out from all seven facial orifices (eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth). It vividly conveys the image of someone so incandescently angry that they appear to be steaming from every opening on their face.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant of the more common expression 七窍生烟 (qī qiào shēng yān). In traditional Chinese medicine and Taoist philosophy, the human head has seven apertures or 'qiao' (窍): two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth. The image of smoke rising from all seven orifices is a hyperbolic metaphor for uncontrollable rage — the internal fire of anger is so intense that it forces its way out through every facial opening. The substitution of 孔 (hole) for 窍 (aperture) makes the expression slightly more colloquial and visceral. No specific classical source text is recorded for this variant.
💡 Example Usage
他气得七孔生烟，差点把桌子掀了。
He was so furious that smoke nearly came out of his seven orifices, and he almost flipped the table over.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 七孔生烟
- Pinyin: qī kǒng shēng yān
- Literal Translation: seven, orifices, emit, smoke
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4