📖 Meaning
To be both delighted and uneasy upon receiving favor, appreciation, or praise from someone of higher status. It conveys a sense of humility and surprise that one has been so honored. The phrase is essentially a variant of the more common idiom 受宠若惊.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom is a close variant of the well-known phrase 受宠若惊, whose philosophical root traces back to Laozi's Dao De Jing (Chapter 13), where the sage writes '宠辱若惊'—meaning one should treat both favor and disgrace with vigilance and trepidation, since both can unsettle the self. Later writers in the Song dynasty, such as Ouyang Xiu, formalized the sentiment in memorials and letters to the throne, expressing that any imperial kindness left the recipient simultaneously grateful and anxious. The specific wording 闻宠若惊 emerged as a literary alternative, emphasizing the moment of hearing about the favor as the cause of the startled reaction. No single canonical textual origin is recorded for this exact variant.
💡 Example Usage
接到董事长的亲自邀请，他闻宠若惊，连忙推辞了好几次。
Upon receiving a personal invitation from the chairman, he was both flattered and uneasy, politely declining several times.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 闻宠若惊
- Pinyin: wén chǒng ruò jīng
- Literal Translation: hear, favor, as if, startled
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4