杞人忧天
- Literal
- a man of Qi fearing the sky will fall
- Figurative
- To fret needlessly over disasters that are unlikely or impossible; to worry about something that almost certainly will never happen.
Where does 杞人忧天 come from?
In the state of Qi there lived a man obsessed with the fear that the sky would collapse and the earth give way, leaving him nowhere to take shelter. His dread grew so great that he stopped eating and sleeping. A friend came to comfort him, explaining that the sky is merely accumulated air, present everywhere, so that breathing and moving already means living within it with no danger of its falling; and that the earth is only solid mass filling every gap, so treading firmly on it poses no risk either. Hearing this, the man of Qi was at last reassured and glad. The tale appears in the book of Liezi, and ever since it has named anyone who torments himself with groundless fears.
Source (出处): 《列子·天瑞》
How is 杞人忧天 used? Two examples
- 孩子只是迟到了十分钟，你就担心成这样，真是杞人忧天。
The kid is only ten minutes late and you're already this worried; that's just needless fretting.
- 体检结果都正常，你别再杞人忧天了。
Your checkup results all came back normal, so stop worrying over nothing.
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