Chinese idiom · 成语
千钧一发
Meaning
A thousand weights on one hair; critical moment.
Character by character
Origin and story
Classical metaphorA huge weight hanging from a single hair expresses extreme danger. Related language occurs in the Liezi in a debate about apparently paradoxical propositions, including a hair drawing a tremendous load. In the Book of Han, Mei Sheng uses a thread supporting a vast weight as a warning about peril. Neither is the exact modern four-character form.
Han Yu also compares an endangered situation to a hair bearing a thousand jun, and the exact idiom is documented in a Song lyric by Li Zengbo. Jun is an ancient weight unit; the contrast between enormous load and fragile support, rather than a precise modern measurement, drives the metaphor.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
就在千钧一发之际，司机急忙刹车，避开了横穿马路的孩子。
At the critical instant, the driver braked sharply and avoided the child crossing the road.
For immediate, serious peril, not merely an inconvenient deadline.