📖 Meaning
Describes a perilous situation where disaster could strike at any moment — as close as the span between morning and evening. It conveys extreme urgency, emphasizing that the threat is not distant but immediately upon one.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wu, in the biography of Taishi Ci. During the late Eastern Han dynasty, the warlord Guan Hai led a rebellion and besieged the city of Beihai. Taishi Ci, a loyal officer serving under Kong Rong, rushed to seek reinforcements from Liu Bei, describing the dire situation by saying the city was 'isolated, exhausted, without aid, and in peril that could end at any dawn or dusk.' The phrase captured the desperate immediacy of the siege.
💡 Example Usage
敌军压境，都城危在旦夕，朝中大臣束手无策。
With enemy troops closing in, the capital was in imminent danger, and the court officials were helpless.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 危在旦夕
- Pinyin: wēi zài dàn xī
- Literal Translation: danger, at, dawn, dusk
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4