六神无主

六神無主

liùshén-wúzhǔ

idiom

Meanings

1 at one's wit's end
2 panicked and unable to think straight
3 with the six spirits leaderless

Characters

master / leader

Examples

HSK 3

面对突然的提问，他六神无主。

Miànduì tūrán de tíwèn, tā liùshén-wúzhǔ.

Faced with the sudden question, he was completely flustered.

HSK 5

孩子走丢了，母亲急得六神无主。

Háizi zǒu diū le, mǔqīn jí de liùshén-wúzhǔ.

With the child lost, the mother was so anxious she couldn't think straight.

HSK 7-9

听到这个坏消息，她顿时六神无主。

Tīngdào zhège huài xiāoxi, tā dùnshí liùshén-wúzhǔ.

Hearing the bad news, she instantly went to pieces.

Tips

culture

Daoist belief held that six organs (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, gallbladder) each had a guardian spirit. When all six 'have no master' (无主), the person loses composure entirely.

history

The image appears in Zhang Heng's Han-dynasty 《髑髅赋》; the set idiom is attested in Feng Menglong's Ming collection 《醒世恒言》.

Stroke Order

六 liù

神 shén

无 wú

主 zhǔ