📖 Meaning
Unable to control one's emotions; so overwhelmed by feelings that one cannot restrain them. It emphasizes being completely overtaken by a particular emotion to the point of losing self-command.
📜 Origin Story
No specific classical text is recorded as the definitive source of this idiom. It is a variant of the more common expression 情不自禁, where 已 means 'to stop' or 'to cease.' Thus the phrase literally means one's emotions cannot be brought to a halt by oneself. It has been used in literary and modern Chinese to describe moments of overwhelming feeling, such as grief, joy, or gratitude, where rational self-restraint gives way to emotional expression.
💡 Example Usage
听到这首熟悉的歌，她情不自已地流下了眼泪。
Hearing this familiar song, she was so overcome with emotion that tears flowed from her eyes.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 情不自已
- Pinyin: qíng bù zì yǐ
- Literal Translation: emotion, not, self, stop
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4