📖 Meaning
Describes a moment of extreme peril or imminent disaster, where the slightest misstep could lead to catastrophe. It conveys the image of a massive weight hanging by a single strand of hair, one snap away from crashing down.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Book of Han' (《汉书》), in the biography of Mei Cheng (枚乘), who wrote: 'Using a single thread to hold a thousand-jun weight, suspended above an unfathomable abyss — even a fool knows it will soon snap.' Later, the Tang dynasty scholar Han Yu (韩愈) echoed this imagery in his 'Letter to Prefect Meng' (《与孟尚书书》), writing: 'The peril is like a thousand jun pulled by a single hair.' The phrase was subsequently condensed into the four-character idiom.
💡 Example Usage
在千钧一发之际，消防员冲进火场救出了被困的孩子。
At the critical, hair-trigger moment, the firefighter rushed into the burning building and rescued the trapped child.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 千钧一发
- Pinyin: qiān jūn yī fà
- Literal Translation: thousand jun-weight, one hair-strand
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4