Chinese idiom · 成语
亡魂丧胆
Meaning
Lost soul, broken courage; utter terror.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary usageIn chapter 50 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao's retreating men are described with this expression when they confront danger and stare helplessly at one another. The wording makes terror seem so overwhelming that soul and courage have deserted the body. It is heightened narration in a historical novel, not a medical description or evidence that souls actually leave frightened people.
The dictionary also records the phrase in the anonymous Ming play Po Tian Zhen, where military victory is imagined through the enemy's terror. These attestations explain its strongly dramatic force; they do not establish a single real event as its origin.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
鬼屋里的演员突然冲出来，吓得我亡魂丧胆。
An actor suddenly rushed out in the haunted house and scared me out of my wits.
A very strong, often deliberately dramatic description of terror.