鬼迷心窍

鬼迷心竅

guǐmí-xīnqiào

idiom #30,710

Meanings

1 to be possessed (by an irrational impulse)
2 to be obsessed
3 to lose one's better judgment
4 (literally) ghosts have bewitched one's mind

Characters

opening, orifice

Examples

HSK 3

我真是鬼迷心窍才相信他。

Wǒ zhēn shì guǐmí-xīnqiào cái xiāngxìn tā.

I must have been out of my mind to believe him.

HSK 6

他一时鬼迷心窍，做了傻事。

Tā yìshí guǐmí-xīnqiào, zuò le shǎshì.

For a moment he was possessed by something foolish and did a stupid thing.

Tips

history

From the Qing-dynasty novel 《歧路灯》 (Lamp at the Crossroads) by Li Lüyuan (李绿园) ch. 60: 'For one moment 鬼迷心窍, regret came too late.' Used today as a self-deprecating excuse - 'I don't know what got into me' - when explaining a regrettable lapse in judgment, often in matters of love, money, or sudden anger.

memory

Literal image: 鬼 (a ghost/devil) 迷 (bewitches) 心窍 (the openings of the heart-mind). Picture a tiny demon plugging the holes through which good sense flows.

Stroke Order

鬼 guǐ

迷 mí

心 xīn

窍 qiào