小心翼翼

• Pinyin: xiǎo xīn yì yì
• Hanzi breakdown: 小 = small; 心 = pictograph of a heart — careful; 翼 = 羽 + 異 (feathers + distinctive — a wing); 翼翼 = reduplication indicating great reverence and caution

Meaning

With extreme care and caution; gingerly; very carefully. Describes acting with great delicacy to avoid making a mistake or causing harm.

A four-character idiom (成语) used to describe someone handling a situation, object, or relationship with the utmost care and restraint. Often implies nervousness or awareness of fragility. Common in both literary and everyday speech.

Examples

1. 他小心翼翼地将易碎的瓷器从箱子里取出，生怕稍有不慎便会损坏。 He carefully took the fragile porcelain out of the box, afraid that the slightest misstep would damage it.
2. 她小心翼翼地措辞，避免在谈判中触怒对方，引发不必要的冲突。 She chose her words very carefully to avoid offending the other side in the negotiations and triggering unnecessary conflict.
3. 在冰面上行走时，游客们个个小心翼翼，步步为营，生怕滑倒。 When walking on the ice, every tourist moved with extreme caution, taking each step carefully for fear of slipping.

Usage Guide

Context: caution, literature, daily life, negotiation

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 外科医生小心翼翼地切除肿瘤，全程保持高度专注，确保不损伤周边健康组织。(The surgeon excised the tumour with painstaking care, maintaining intense concentration throughout to ensure no damage to surrounding healthy tissue.)
• 他小心翼翼地向上司提出了自己的不同意见，措辞委婉而有分寸，避免引起误解。(He raised his dissenting view with his superior very cautiously, phrasing it diplomatically and with appropriate restraint to avoid any misunderstanding.)

Don't Say

• 我小心翼翼地吃饭 — 小心翼翼 implies heightened caution about something fragile or risky; using it for routine actions like eating sounds unnatural unless the situation is genuinely precarious

Origin & History

小心 (careful) + 翼翼 (cautious, reverent — from classical Chinese meaning wings folded respectfully); a 成语 from the Book of Songs (诗经)

Cultural Context

Era: Classical

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal