📖 Meaning
Describes someone who shrinks back timidly, afraid to step forward or assert themselves. It evokes the image of a turtle pulling its head into its shell out of fear. It is equivalent to the more common variant 缩头缩脑.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in Chapter 13 of Qu Qiubai's early 20th-century travelogue 'Journey to the Land of Hunger' (饿乡纪程). Qu Qiubai describes a desolate long street where only three or four people could be seen shuffling along, hunching over and shrinking their heads as they walked in a crooked path. The expression vividly captures a timid, furtive, and cowering posture. It is synonymous with the more widely used variant 缩头缩脑.
💡 Example Usage
他遇到一点小事就缩头缩颈，实在缺乏担当。
He shrinks back timidly at the slightest thing, truly lacking a sense of responsibility.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 缩头缩颈
- Pinyin: suō tóu suō jǐng
- Literal Translation: shrink, head, shrink, neck
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4