草木皆兵

Chinese

{| style="clear: right;margin: 1em;border-collapse: collapse;text-align: center"

|- !

!

grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript; hasty

!tree; wood !all; each and every; in all cases

!

soldiers; a force; an army; weapons; arms; military; warlike

|- !simp. and trad.
(草木皆兵) | 草 | 木 | 皆 | 兵 |}

Etymology

Literally: (to be so scared and paranoid, that when the wind blows the) grass and trees, (one thinks that) the (enemy) soldiers are everywhere (and are about to attack)

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): cǎo mù jiē bīng

(Zhuyin): ㄘㄠˇ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄝㄅㄧㄥ
Cantonese (Jyutping): cou² muk⁶ gaai¹ bing¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: cǎo mù jiē bīng
  - Zhuyin: ㄘㄠˇ ㄇㄨˋ ㄐㄧㄝㄅㄧㄥ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsao muh jie bing
  - IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ mu⁵¹ t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵ piŋ⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: cou² muk⁶ gaai¹ bing¹
  - Yale: chóu muhk gāai bīng
  - Cantonese Pinyin: tsou² muk⁹ gaai¹ bing¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: cou² mug⁶ gai¹ bing¹
  - IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰou̯³⁵ mʊk̚² kɑːi̯⁵⁵ pɪŋ⁵⁵/

Idiom

草木皆兵

describes a situation in which someone is being overly paranoid

Related terms

風聲鶴唳／风声鹤唳

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