細思恐極
Chinese
fine; minutely; thin fine; minutely; thin; slender | to think; to consider | afraid; frightened; to fear | utmost; pole; extreme utmost; pole; extreme; to reach the limit | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (細思恐極) | 細 | 思 | 恐 | 極 | |
simp. (细思恐极) | 细 | 思 | 恐 | 极 | |
alternative forms | 細思極恐/细思极恐 | ||||
Literally: “carefully-think-afraid-extremely”. |
Etymology
Shortened from the following phrase:
- 仔細想想,覺得恐怖至極。 [MSC, trad.]
- Zǐxì xiángxiǎng, juéde kǒngbù zhìjí. [Pinyin]
- Thinking about it carefully, I find it extremely terrifying.
仔细想想,觉得恐怖至极。 [MSC, simp.]
replacing 想 with 思 which is used more in written language, to make it resemble a genuine Chinese chengyu (idiom).
Made popular by a compilation of Internet neologisms posted on Sina Weibo on June 16, 2013.
Pronunciation
Phrase
細思恐極
- (Mainland China, neologism, Internet slang) The more one thinks about it, the more petrified one becomes.