📖 Meaning
Describes a state of extreme terror or fright, where one's heart drops and courage shatters. It conveys being so frightened that one loses composure entirely. It shares the same meaning as 心殒胆落.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom belongs to the classical Chinese vocabulary describing fear and panic. Its components 心 (heart) and 胆 (gallbladder) are traditionally associated in Chinese thought with courage and resolve, so when both are depicted as falling or breaking, it signifies utter loss of nerve. The phrase draws on the ancient Chinese medical-philosophical notion that the gallbladder governs courage. No single specific textual origin is recorded for this exact four-character combination.
💡 Example Usage
听到敌军已攻入城内，守将心殒胆破，连夜弃城而逃。
Hearing that the enemy troops had breached the city, the defending general was so terrified that he abandoned the city and fled that very night.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 心殒胆破
- Pinyin: xīn yǔn dǎn pò
- Literal Translation: heart falls, gallbladder breaks
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4