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杞人憂天 (Qǐrényōutiān)


Daimashin

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杞人憂天 (Qǐrényōutiān) - Extreme paranoia

Literal meaning - Qǐrén worries sky.

A long time ago there lived a man named "杞人"(Qǐrén). Qǐrén is always worried that the sky will fall. His friend asked him why and Qǐrén said that it was because the sky had no support whatsoever. His friends told him that the sky is air, therefore did not require any support. This scared Qǐrén even more as he was now afraid that the stars and the moon will fall. He fainted so his friends brought him home, at night he died from shock because he saw a shooting star and thought that the stars were falling down.

杞人憂天 (Qǐrényōutiān) is used to describe someone with extreme and unfounded paranoia.

Example:

"好好的,怎麼會突然間得到癌症呢?你不要「杞人憂天」了."

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