Chinese idiom · 成语
耿耿于怀
Meaning
Lingering in the heart; persistent concern.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary allusionThe word genggeng has an important antecedent in Bo Zhou, a poem in the Book of Songs' Odes of Bei. Its speaker lies awake with hidden sorrow, cannot obtain comfort from relatives, and describes repeated troubles and insults. The poem supplies the image of a mind unable to settle, but does not contain the full modern four-character phrase.
A later exact use appears in Huang Daozhou's letter to Wan Jiren, remembering an earlier meeting under the moon. The idiom thus concerns something that remains insistently in one's thoughts. Modern everyday usage most often describes lingering hurt, dissatisfaction, or resentment rather than a pleasant memory.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
那次会议上被误解的事，她至今仍耿耿于怀。
She is still troubled by the way she was misunderstood at that meeting.
Commonly follows 对 and refers to lingering hurt or resentment.