Chinese idiom · 成语
不寒而栗
Meaning
Not cold yet shivering; fear-induced trembling.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical accountIn the Shiji (史記), volume 122, the harsh official Yi Zong is transferred to Dingxiang. He arrests more than two hundred prisoners and a similar number of people who had privately visited them, treating the visitors as helping those accused of capital crimes. The account reports that over four hundred people were put to death on that day.
Sima Qian then describes the commandery as trembling although it was not cold. The phrase captures the terror produced by brutal punishment, not unexplained shivering. The modern idiom preserves the contrast between outward temperature and inward fear. 栗 here means trembling and also appears in the form 慄.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
想到那辆车差点撞上行人，我仍然不寒而栗。
I still shudder when I think of how that car nearly hit a pedestrian.
Strong fear or horror, including a frightening possibility recalled afterward.