Chinese idiom · 成语
无地自容
Meaning
No ground to hold oneself; overwhelming shame.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical accountThe Records of the Grand Historian tells how Lord Xinling, Wei Wuji, saved Zhao by taking command of Wei's troops through a forged royal order. When Zhao proposed rewarding him, he began to feel proud. A guest reminded him that benefiting Zhao had also meant disobeying his own ruler, and urged him to remember others' kindness while forgetting his own services.
Wei Wuji immediately reproached himself and seemed to have nowhere to put himself. The history uses the longer wording 似若无所容者, rather than this exact idiom. The later expression captures that intense embarrassment: wishing the ground offered somewhere to disappear.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
我当众批评了他，后来才发现是自己弄错了，顿时无地自容。
I criticized him in front of everyone, then discovered I was the one mistaken and felt utterly ashamed.
Extreme embarrassment or shame, not literal lack of living space.