📖 Meaning
This idiom refers to a nemesis from a past life, describing a relationship marked by extraordinarily deep-seated enmity or resentment. Paradoxically, it is also used as an affectionate term for someone deeply beloved, treating the bond as a karmic entanglement that fate has woven across lifetimes. It is a variant of the more common phrase 夙世冤家.
📜 Origin Story
The concept draws on Buddhist notions of karma and reincarnation, where grievances and debts from past lives carry over into present existence. In classical Chinese literature—particularly Song and Ming dynasty vernacular stories and drama—the word 冤家 carried a double meaning: a bitter enemy and, in a playful twist, a beloved one whose hold on the heart feels almost like a curse. The variant 夙世冤业 substitutes 业 (karmic deed) to emphasize the inescapable karmic weight of the bond. No single definitive source text is recorded for this exact phrasing.
💡 Example Usage
他们两人一见面就争吵不休，简直是夙世冤业。
The two of them bicker endlessly the moment they meet, as if they were karmic foes from a past life.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 夙世冤业
- Pinyin: sù shì yuān yè
- Literal Translation: former life, grievance, karmic debt
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4