📖 Meaning
An unexpected blessing or fortune that arrives without being sought or anticipated. It describes good fortune that comes unsolicited, often surprising the recipient. The phrase emphasizes that the happiness was neither earned nor predicted.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the 'Strategies of the Warring States' (战国策·楚策四), a historical text compiled during the Han dynasty. In the story, Zhu Ying (朱英) warns Lord Chunshen (春申君, Huang Xie 黄歇), a powerful minister of the Chu state, about the treacherous courtier Li Yuan (李园). Zhu Ying remarks that the world holds both unexpected blessings and unexpected disasters, and that Lord Chunshen, living in unpredictable times serving an unpredictable lord, may well encounter an unexpected person. Tragically, Lord Chunshen dismissed the warning and was later assassinated by Li Yuan.
💡 Example Usage
他本是去图书馆查资料，却意外遇到了失联多年的老友，真是无妄之福。
He had only gone to the library to look up some materials, but unexpectedly ran into an old friend he had lost contact with for years — truly an unexpected blessing.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 无妄之福
- Pinyin: wú wàng zhī fú
- Literal Translation: unexpected, of, blessing
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4