杞人憂天

杞人忧天
qǐrényōutiān

to have groundless fears

Wiktionary

Homographs

杞人憂天 Qǐrényōutiān
  1. lit. like the man of 杞 Qǐ who feared the sky would fall (idiom)
  2. fig. to entertain groundless fears

Entry Composition

=1 杞 Qǐ
  1. Qi, a Zhou Dynasty vassal state
  2. surname Qi
=1 杞 qǐ
  1. Chinese wolfberry shrub (Lycium chinense)
  2. willow
2 人 rén person; people

classifiers: 個, 位
3 憂 yōu
  1. to worry
  2. to concern oneself with
  3. worried
  4. anxiety
  5. sorrow
  6. (literary) to observe mourning
4 天 tiān
  1. day
  2. sky
  3. heaven