七窍生烟

七竅生煙
qīqiào-shēngyān
idiom #62,279

Meanings

  1. 1 smoke pouring from the seven orifices
  2. 2 to seethe with rage
  3. 3 to be furious

Examples

HSK 3
Tīngdào zhège xiāoxi, tā qì de qīqiào-shēngyān.
When he heard the news, he was so angry smoke practically came out of his ears.
HSK 5
Lǎobǎn bèi piàn le yì bǐ qián, qīqiào-shēngyān.
The boss was cheated out of a sum of money and was absolutely livid.

Tips

history
Earliest known use is in the Qing-dynasty novel 《廿载繁华梦》 ('Twenty Years of a Splendid Dream') by 黄小配, where a character is so enraged that smoke seems to pour from her face before she coughs blood.
memory
七窍 = the seven openings of the head: 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth. Picture anger so intense steam blasts out of every single one of them.

Stroke Order

qiào
shēng
yān