Chinese idiom · 成语
英雄气短
Meaning
Hero’s spirit shortens; great ones falter.
Character by character
Origin and story
Traditional anecdote and literary usageZengguang Shangyou Lu Tongbian (增廣尚友錄統編), volume 3, tells of Su Pi, a man of the Song period, leaving after failing an examination. He says that such a place can easily diminish a capable person's spirit. The anecdote supplies the image of ambition being cut short by disappointment; the surviving compilation's account should not be mistaken for a contemporary transcript.
The exact expression occurs in later drama and fiction. In Shuo Yue Quanzhuan, chapter 23, taking credit for another person's achievement is said to discourage capable people from serving. Other uses connect diminished resolve with romantic or family attachment. 气短 here concerns lost spirit and initiative, not physical shortness of breath.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
连续几次投稿被拒后，他也有些英雄气短，但最终还是拿起了笔。
After several submissions were rejected, even he felt discouraged, but he eventually picked up his pen again.
A literary description of lost resolve after frustration; not a medical description.