📖 Meaning
声嘶力竭 describes a state of shouting until one's voice becomes hoarse and one's strength is completely spent. It portrays someone calling out or appealing with every ounce of effort, often when struggling in vain or pleading desperately. The idiom emphasizes both physical exhaustion and the futility of the effort being made.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom first appears in the essay 《贾岛》 (Jia Dao) by the modern Chinese poet and scholar Wen Yiduo (闻一多, 1899–1946), written during the Republican era to discuss the Tang dynasty poet Jia Dao (贾岛, 779–843). In the essay, Wen Yiduo writes, "眼看见前进也是枉然，不要说他们早已声嘶力竭" (Seeing that moving forward is futile, let alone the fact that they had long since shouted themselves hoarse and exhausted their strength). The phrase was coined to describe those who keep crying out desperately even though their cause is hopeless. Unlike most idioms with ancient origins, 声嘶力竭 is a relatively modern coinage from twentieth-century literary criticism, and it has since become a common expression in everyday Chinese.
💡 Example Usage
他声嘶力竭地呼喊着，希望有人能听到他的求救。
He shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone would hear his cries for help.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 声嘶力竭
- Pinyin: shēng sī lì jié
- Literal Translation: voice, hoarse, strength, exhausted
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4