草木皆兵

Chinese

		grass; straw; draft (of a document) grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript; hasty	tree; wood	all; each and every; in all cases	soldiers; a force; an army soldiers; a force; an army; weapons; arms; military; warlike
trad. (草木皆兵)		草	木	皆	兵
simp. ^#(草木皆兵)		草	木	皆	兵

Etymology

Literally: (to be so scared and paranoid, that when the wind blows the) grass and trees, (one thinks that) the (enemy) soldiers are everywhere (and are about to attack)

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): cǎo mù jiē bīng

(Zhuyin): ㄘㄠˇ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄝㄅㄧㄥ
Cantonese (Jyutping): cou² muk⁶ gaai¹ bing¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: cǎo mù jiē bīng
  - Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˇ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄝㄅㄧㄥ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsao muh jie bing
  - IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ mu⁵¹ t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵ piŋ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: cou² muk⁶ gaai¹ bing¹
  - Yale: chóu muhk gāai bīng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tsou² muk⁹ gaai¹ bing¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: cou² mug⁶ gai¹ bing¹
  - IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰou̯³⁵ mʊk̚² käːi̯⁵⁵ pɪŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

草木皆兵

describes a situation in which someone is being overly paranoid

Related terms

風聲鶴唳／风声鹤唳

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.