Skip to content

【No. 1488】Gishin Anki (疑心暗鬼 - Doubts Beget Doubts)

Jan 14, 2019 18:18
Gishin Anki

Today, I saw a person who has a mind called gishin anki (疑心暗鬼).

This four-character idiom mean to be afraid of trivial things or suspect everything.

Gi (疑) means "suspicion," shin (心) means "heart" or "mind," an (暗) means "dark," and ki (鬼) means "ogre."

In other words, gishin anki implies a mind of suspecting that there is an ogre because of the darkness.

Originally, this idiom was used as a Buddhist term to mean to have a suspecional mind to the truth of Buddhism.
疑心暗鬼

私は今日、「疑心暗鬼」になっている人を見ました。

「疑心暗鬼」とは、疑わしいことがきっかけで、なんでもないことを怖いと思ったり、疑わしいと感じてしまうことを意味します。

「疑」は "suspicion"、「心」は "heart/mind"、「暗」は "dark"、「鬼」は "ogre" を意味します。

すなわち「疑心暗鬼」とは、暗いというだけで鬼がいるのではないかと疑う心を表しています。

もともとは、仏教の真理に対して疑いの心を持つことを意味する仏教用語として使われていました。

Corrections (2)

No. 1 SallyG
  • Gishin Anki (疑心暗鬼 - Doubts Beget Doubts)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Gishin Anki
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Today, I saw a person who has a mind called 'gishin anki' (疑心暗鬼).
  • Today, I saw a person who has a mind that in Japanese we would call 'gishin anki' (疑心暗鬼).

    Your sentence is not necessarily wrong, but I think because 疑心暗鬼 is not a word we would use in English you should specify where it is from like this.

  • This four-character idiom mean to be afraid of trivial things or suspect everything.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • 'Gi' (疑) means "suspicion," 'shin' (心) means "heart" or "mind," 'an' (暗) means "dark," and 'ki' (鬼) means "ogre."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • In other words, 'gishin anki' implies a mind of suspecting that there is an ogre because of the darkness.
  • In other words, 'gishin anki' implies that someone has a mind that suspects there is an ogre in the darkness.

    I think this is marginally better, but your version is not necessarily wrong it just lacked flow.

  • Originally, this idiom was used as a Buddhist term to mean to have a suspecional mind to the truth of Buddhism.
  • Originally, this idiom was used as a Buddhist term to mean that someone was suspicious of the truth of Buddhism.

    suspecional is not a word, I believe. I corrected to make the sentence work naturally with suspicious instead. :)

Your English is very good! You have a few things to work out in order to make it sound 100% natural, but you are on your way. :) Good luck with your studies!!

Toru
Thank you so much for the corrections and comments!
I'm glad to hear you say that. (^^)
No. 2 friendfromfaraway
  • Gishin Anki (疑心暗鬼 - Doubts Beget Doubts)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Today, I saw a person who has a mind called 'gishin anki' (疑心暗鬼).
  • Today, I saw a person who has a mindset called 'gishin anki' (疑心暗鬼).
  • This four-character idiom mean to be afraid of trivial things or suspect everything.
  • This four-character idiom means "to be afraid of trivial things" or suspect everything.
  • 'Gi' (疑) means "suspicion," 'shin' (心) means "heart" or "mind," 'an' (暗) means "dark," and 'ki' (鬼) means "ogre."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • In other words, 'gishin anki' implies a mind of suspecting that there is an ogre because of the darkness.
  • In other words, 'gishin anki' implies a mind thatof suspecting that there is an ogre hiddbencause inof the darkness.
  • Originally, this idiom was used as a Buddhist term to mean to have a suspecional mind to the truth of Buddhism.
  • Originally, this idiom was used as a Buddhist term to mean to have a suspeceptioncal mind to the truth of Buddhism.

疑心暗鬼ってことね。So that means something like "jumping at shadows", huh. Thank you, Toruさん!

Toru
Thank you so much for correcting my post and letting me know the interesting phrase! :)

Comments