Houfuku Zettou (抱腹絶倒 - Holding One's Stomach and Laughing)

Houfuku Zettou

Have you ever had a big laugh enough to roll around a floor?

To describe such a laugh, you can use the four-character idiom 'houfuku zettou' (抱腹絶倒).

'Hou' (抱) means "to hold something," 'fuku' (腹) means "stomach," 'ze/zetsu' (絶) means "very" or "surely," and 'tou' (倒) means "to turn over," so the literal meaning of this idiom is "someone turns over while holding his/her stomach."

Originally, another kanji 捧 (meaning "to hold something with both hands") was used instead of 抱.

However, since 抱 was more common and was widely used, 捧腹絶倒 changed to 抱腹絶倒.

抱腹絶倒

転げ回るほど大笑いしたことはありますか？

そのようなことを表す四字熟語に「抱腹絶倒」があります。

「抱」は "to hold something"、「腹」は "stomach"、「絶」は "very/surely"、「倒」は "to turn over" を意味するので、この熟語の文字通りの意味は "someone turns over while holding his/her stomach" となります。

もともと「抱」は、両手で何かを抱えることを意味する「捧」という字が使われていました。

しかし、「抱」という字のほうが広く使われる一般的なものであるため、「捧腹絶倒」が「抱腹絶倒」に変化したそうです。

• Have you ever had a big laugh enough to roll around a floor?
• Have you ever laughed so hard that it caused you to roll around on the floor?

• 'Hou' (抱) means "to hold something," 'fuku' (腹) means "stomach," 'ze/zetsu' (絶) means "very" or "surely," and 'tou' (倒) means "to turn over," so the literal meaning of this idiom is "someone turns over while holding his/her stomach."
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• However, since 抱 was more common and was widely used, 捧腹絶倒 changed to 抱腹絶倒.
• However, since 抱 was more common and was widely used, 捧腹絶倒 was changed to/became 抱腹絶倒.

Hah, we say ROFL for that in emails. Rolling on floor laughing.