📖 Meaning
To abandon both sleep and food. It describes a state of extreme anxiety or intense concentration, where one is so preoccupied that they neglect basic needs like eating and resting.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Song dynasty work 'Yijian Zhi' (夷坚志) by Hong Mai (洪迈). In the chapter 'Shen Sees Ghosts' (沈见鬼), it describes a person who, during the summer, suffered from a severe eye inflammation causing such pain that they could neither sleep nor eat. Over time, the phrase came to be used metaphorically for extreme anxiety, grief, or intense dedication to work and study.
💡 Example Usage
得知母亲病危的消息后，他寝食俱废，日夜守在病房外。
After learning that his mother was critically ill, he was so distraught that he could neither eat nor sleep, keeping watch outside the ward day and night.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 寝食俱废
- Pinyin: qǐn shí jù fèi
- Literal Translation: sleep, eat, both, abandon
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4