📖 Meaning
This idiom literally means that resentful energy rises up to pierce the sky. It describes a person filled with intense indignation, grievance, or resentment, usually at a perceived injustice. It may refer either to loudly voiced complaints or to a seething, overwhelming fury.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from Chapter 76 of the Ming dynasty historical novel 'Romance of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms' (东周列国志) by Feng Menglong. It describes Wu Yuan (better known as Wu Zixu) of the Spring and Autumn period, whose father and elder brother were unjustly executed by King Ping of Chu. Driven by grief and rage, Wu Yuan fled to the state of Wu and later helped its army capture Ying, the Chu capital. Upon finding King Ping's corpse, his resentment pierced the heavens: he struck the body three hundred times with a nine-jointed bronze whip, until the flesh split and the bones broke. Since then the phrase has been used for overwhelming indignation and grievance.
💡 Example Usage
他遭到无理辞退后怨气冲天，逢人便诉说心中的不公。
After being dismissed without cause, he was consumed with furious resentment, complaining of the injustice to everyone he met.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 怨气冲天
- Pinyin: yuàn qì chōng tiān
- Literal Translation: resentment, energy, rushes up to, heaven
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4