📖 Meaning
To worry unnecessarily about something that will never happen. It describes someone who wastes time and energy on baseless fears, often imagining catastrophic scenarios that have no real chance of occurring.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom comes from the ancient Chinese philosophical text Liezi (列子), compiled during the Warring States period. The story tells of a man from the State of Qi who became terrified that the sky might collapse and the earth might cave in, leaving him with no place to stand. Despite reassurances from a friend who explained the nature of heaven and earth, the Qi man could not stop his anxiety, and another friend then worried that the worrier himself might die of distress — an infinite regress of needless concern.
💡 Example Usage
担心小行星撞击地球只是杞人忧天，科学家说这种概率极低。
Worrying about an asteroid hitting Earth is just unnecessary anxiety; scientists say the probability is extremely low.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 杞人忧天
- Pinyin: qǐ rén yōu tiān
- Literal Translation: Qi person, worry, sky
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4