身陷囹圄

shēnxiàn-língyǔ

idiom #31,503

Meanings

1 to be thrown into prison
2 to be behind bars
3 to be in jail

Characters

to fall into; trapped

prison (archaic)

prison (archaic)

Examples

HSK 6

尽管身陷囹圄，他仍然坚持自己的信念。

Jǐnguǎn shēnxiàn-língyǔ, tā réngrán jiānchí zìjǐ de xìnniàn.

Even though he was imprisoned, he still held to his convictions.

HSK 7-9

由于贪污，他最终身陷囹圄。

Yóuyú tānwū, tā zuìzhōng shēnxiàn-língyǔ.

Because of corruption, he eventually ended up behind bars.

Tips

history

囹圄 (língyǔ) is one of the oldest words for 'jail' in Chinese, found in 《说文》 (囹，狱也) and 《华严音义》 (囹圄，周之狱名也 - the prison-name of the Zhou dynasty). 身陷 means 'one's body falls into', so the whole phrase paints the literal image of a person sunk inside the ancient Zhou prison.

register

Formal/literary. Newsroom and court-document language. Everyday speech prefers 坐牢 (zuòláo) or 进监狱 (jìn jiānyù).

Stroke Order

身 shēn

陷 xiàn

囹 líng

圄 yǔ