危言耸听 — “To sensationalize or exaggerate in speech to alarm or scare people”
危言耸听 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to sensationalize or exaggerate in speech to alarm or scare people”. To spread alarmist rumors; to deliberately create a panic. Literally, “alarming words to shock listeners”.
危言耸听 Pronunciation and Pinyin
- 危wēi
- 言yán
- 耸sǒng
- 听tīng
危言耸听 Character Breakdown
Example Sentence with 危言耸听
Origin and Story of 危言耸听
Once, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Gu Kaizhi and Huan Xuan were amusing themselves at Yin Zhongkan's home in Jiankang. They decided to play a game called "dangerous words" (危语), where each person had to describe an extremely perilous situation in a single sentence.
Huan Xuan said: "Cooking millet on the tip of a spear or a sword." This meant trying to prepare food on the sharp, unstable tip of weaponry.
Yin Zhongkan then said: "A hundred-year-old man clinging to a withered branch." This depicted a very old man precariously hanging from a dry, brittle tree branch.
Finally, Gu Kaizhi declared: "A baby lying on a well pulley." A well pulley is easily rolled, and a baby lying on it would be in extreme danger.
Later generations used this act of deliberately saying exaggerated and frightening things to alarm people as the idiom "危言耸听".
Idioms Related to 危言耸听
More idioms starting with 危
- wēi危yú于lěi累luǎn卵extremely precarious or perilous
- wēi危wáng亡guān关tóu头critical juncture of peril and demise
- wēi危zài在dàn旦xī夕in imminent peril
- wēi危rú如zhāo朝lù露extremely precarious and unstable
- wēi危rú如lěi累luǎn卵precarious as stacked eggs
- wēi危jí急guān关tóu头a critical moment
- wēi危jí急cún存wáng亡a crisis of survival or extinction
- wēi危jí急cún存wáng亡zhī之qiū秋a critical moment of survival
- wēi危jī机sì四fú伏crises lurking on all sides
- wēi危ér而bù不chí持self-reliant in times of danger
- wēi危ruò若zhāo朝lù露precarious and short-lived
- wēi危yán言wēi危xíng行speak and act with integrity
Questions about 危言耸听
- What does 危言耸听 mean?
- 危言耸听 (wēi yán sǒng tīng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to sensationalize or exaggerate in speech to alarm or scare people”.
- How do you pronounce 危言耸听?
- 危言耸听 is pronounced wēi yán sǒng tīng in Mandarin Chinese.
- What does 危言耸听 literally mean?
- Literally, 危言耸听 means “alarming words to shock listeners”. It is used to mean “to sensationalize or exaggerate in speech to alarm or scare people”.
- Where does 危言耸听 come from?
- 危言耸听 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
- What is the Chinese definition of 危言耸听?
- 危言：使人吃惊的话；耸：惊动；耸听：使听话的人吃惊。指故意说些夸大的吓人的话，使人惊疑震动。