📖 Meaning
One's spirit has left its dwelling, describing a state of being utterly distracted, unsettled, and unable to concentrate. It is a variant of the more common idiom 神不守舍. The phrase paints the image of the soul wandering away from the body, leaving a person flustered and absent-minded.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant form of the well-known expression 神不守舍, which traces back to classical Chinese literature describing a person whose mind has wandered from its proper place. In traditional Chinese thought, the heart was considered the house of the spirit; when one is deeply troubled or frightened, the spirit was said to abandon its dwelling. The variant 神不收舍 uses 收 instead of 守, emphasizing the failure to gather or collect one's spirit back. While no single definitive source text is cited, the concept appears across various Song and Ming dynasty writings on emotional disturbance.
💡 Example Usage
听到这个噩耗后，他整日神不收舍，连饭都忘了吃。
After hearing the terrible news, he spent his days in a daze, so unsettled that he even forgot to eat.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 神不收舍
- Pinyin: shén bù shōu shě
- Literal Translation: spirit, not, gather, house
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4