屏气凝神
bǐng qì níng shén
to hold one’s breath and concentrate hard
Character by character
屏bǐng
hold
hold
气qì
breath
breath
凝níng
fix
fix
神shén
mind
mind
Example
考场里鸦雀无声，考生们都屏气凝神地听着听力录音。
The exam hall was utterly silent, and the candidates listened to the recording with bated breath.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
屏 is bǐng here, “to hold back”, not píng as in 屏幕; 凝神 is to fix the mind. It pictures breathless attention to a delicate task or a tense moment and usually works as an adverbial: 屏气凝神地看着, 屏气凝神地听. Also 屏息凝神. The image goes back to 《论语》, which says Confucius at court 屏气似不息者, “held his breath as if he were not breathing”.
Learn this in Lesson 235 · HSK 9+: 我在故宫修文物 (Restoring the Forbidden City’s treasures)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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