📖 Meaning
Describes an act so outrageous that it cannot be tolerated by either human feeling or rational principle. It is used to condemn behavior that violates both empathy and moral reason, leaving no grounds for forgiveness.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom first appears in Guan Hanqing's Yuan Dynasty zaju play 'The Butterfly Dream' (《蝴蝶梦》), Act 2, where a character laments that certain criminals' deeds are '情理难容' — intolerable by both emotion and reason. The phrase later appears in Ling Mengchu's Ming Dynasty story collection 'Slapping the Table in Amazement' (《初刻拍案惊奇》), where it is used to describe a miscarriage of justice so absurd that even a pardonable killing seems less offensive by comparison. Over centuries, the idiom became a standard expression for condemning actions that defy all human and moral standards.
💡 Example Usage
他欺压百姓、无恶不作，实在是情理难容。
He bullied the common people and stopped at no evil — such behavior is truly intolerable by any standard of human decency.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 情理难容
- Pinyin: qíng lǐ nán róng
- Literal Translation: feeling, reason, difficult, tolerate
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4