CHENGYU
杞人忧天(qǐ rén yōu tiān)meaning, story and origin
- Register:
- literary
- Source:
- 《列子·天瑞》
MEANING
- Literal
- the man of Qi worries about the sky
- Figurative meaning
- to worry about things that cannot happen
ORIGIN STORY
A man of the state of Qi feared the sky would fall and the earth cave in, and could neither eat nor sleep. A friend comforted him with reason, and he finally relaxed.
NATURAL EQUIVALENT
“to worry that the sky is falling”
EXAMPLES
别杞人忧天了，事情不会那么糟。Bié qǐ rén yōu tiān le, shìqing bù huì nàme zāo.HSK6
Stop worrying about the sky falling; things will not be that bad.
担心这些不可能发生的事，真是杞人忧天。Dānxīn zhèxiē bù kěnéng fāshēng de shì, zhēn shì qǐ rén yōu tiān.HSK6
Worrying about things that cannot happen is groundless fear.
COMMON MISTAKE
Watch out: Use it for baseless worry, not for concern about real risks.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
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TRUST & SOURCES
- Reviewed by
- AI-assisted editorial review
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-15
- CC-CEDICT 2026-01-01