Definition
铁石心肠 is a four-character idiom (成语) that literally means 'a heart and intestines of iron and stone'. It describes someone who is extremely hard-hearted, unfeeling, or resolute to the point of being cold and indifferent. It can be used in both a negative sense (cruel, merciless) and a neutral/positive sense (unyielding, determined, not swayed by emotion). The idiom is a fixed expression and cannot be separated or modified.
idiom
hard-heartedunfeelingresoluteinflexible
Examples
- ，，铁石心肠。Miànduì biérén de tòngkǔ, tā jìngrán wúdòngyúzhōng, zhēn shì tiě dàn.Facing others' suffering, he was actually indifferent — truly hard-hearted.
- 铁石心肠，。Tā tiě dàn de jùjué le suǒyǒu qiúqíng, jiānchí yīfǎ bànshì.He unyieldingly rejected all pleas and insisted on handling matters according to the law.
- ，铁石心肠。Bié zhǐwàng tā huì xīnruǎn, tā kě shì chūle míng de tiě dàn.Don't expect him to soften — he's famously hard-hearted.
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