临危不惧 (lín wēi bú jù) — to face danger fearlessly, to be undaunted in the face of peril

Definition

A formal, four-character idiom meaning 'to face danger without fear' — used in writing or speeches to praise someone's courage in a crisis. Stress, danger, or danger come from 临危; 不惧 is the negation of fear.

idiom
to face danger fearlessly, to be undaunted in the face of peril

Examples

  • 临危不惧，。
    Tā zài huǒ zāi zhōng lín wēi bú jù, jiù chū le liǎng gè hái zi.
    He faced the fire fearlessly and rescued two children.
  • 临危不惧。
    Zhè wèi zhàn shì lín wēi bú jù de jīng shén zhí dé wǒ men xué xí.
    This soldier's spirit of facing danger fearlessly is worth learning from.
  • ，临危不惧，。
    Miàn duì shì chǎng wēi jī, tā lín wēi bú jù, guǒ duàn tiáo zhěng cè lüè.
    Facing the market crisis, he was undaunted and decisively adjusted his strategy.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臨; 临 is its simplified writing.

For the traditional form 臨, 人 is a person, 臣 is an eye, and 品 is objects, showing a person looking down at objects.

Open 临 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 厃厃wěiperson on a cliff or mountain
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

危 is built from 厃, showing a person on a cliff or mountain, and 卩, showing a kneeling person.

Open 危 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
具
具jù惧jù
Same sound today

In 惧, the left part is 忄, the heart, and the right part 具 gives the sound.

Open 惧 →

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