📖 Meaning
Deep-seated enmity and long-standing grievances accumulated over time. It describes a profound hatred that has festered for an extended period, often between rival families, factions, or nations. The term emphasizes both the depth of the hatred and its entrenched, historical nature.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single recorded origin in classical literature. It is a compound formed from 深仇 (deep enmity) and 宿怨 (long-standing resentment), functioning as a variant of the more common idiom 深仇大恨. The concept of 宿怨 — old grievances that persist — appears throughout Chinese historical texts, reflecting the cultural emphasis on how unresolved conflicts can harden into enduring hatred across generations.
💡 Example Usage
两国之间积攒了深仇宿怨，短期内难以和解。
The two nations had accumulated such deep-seated enmity and long-standing grievances that reconciliation in the near term was unlikely.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 深仇宿怨
- Pinyin: shēn chóu xiǔ yuàn
- Literal Translation: deep, enmity, long-standing, resentment
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4