📖 Meaning
Being so accustomed to something that one becomes oblivious to the problems or true nature within it. It describes how frequent contact breeds familiarity, and familiarity breeds blindness to what is actually there.
📜 Origin Story
From the Mencius (《孟子·尽心上》), a text of the Warring States period (4th century BCE). The philosopher Mencius observed that most people act without understanding, grow accustomed without examining, and go through life following the Way without knowing it—this, he said, describes the common masses. The phrase '习矣而不察焉' was later condensed into the four-character idiom 习焉不察, warning against the blindness that habitual familiarity brings.
💡 Example Usage
这个问题存在已久，大家习焉不察，直到今天才被揭露。
This problem had existed for a long time, yet people were so accustomed to it that they never noticed—until it was finally exposed today.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 习焉不察
- Pinyin: xī yān bù chá
- Literal Translation: 习 habituate, 焉 therein, 不 not, 察 perceive
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4