dead-alive

dead-alive

As a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is k ū m ù s ǐ Hu ī, which means extremely negative and pessimistic. It comes from Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun.

Idiom explanation

Dead ash: cold ash remaining after combustion. Body like dead wood, heart like ashes. The metaphor is extremely negative and pessimistic.

Idioms and allusions

It comes from Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun: "can the form be solid as hangmu, and the heart be solid as dead ash?"

Although there are many examples, the shallow ones are just like the ears. (Yu Ying Zhong Shi Shu by Chen Liang in Song Dynasty)

If we say that he sees things well, his heart will be the same, and he will not move at all, and his heart will be too cold, let alone unreasonable. The ninth chapter of biography of children heroes by Wen Kang in Qing Dynasty

Discrimination of words

Usage: combined; as object and attribute