空穴来风
- Literal
- to an empty hollow comes the wind
- Figurative
- Of a rumor or report, that it has no basis; originally it meant exactly the opposite, that there had to be something behind it.
Where does 空穴来风 come from?
It comes from the 《风赋》 ("Rhapsody on the Wind"), attributed to Song Yu, a poet of Chu. King Xiang, catching a breeze at his Lantai palace, asks whether he shares this wind with the common people; Song Yu replies that it is the king's alone. When the king objects that the wind does not distinguish high from low, Song Yu cites his teacher: crooked branches draw nests and empty hollows draw the wind, because each thing receives according to what it rests on. In short, everything has a cause. It was long used that way ("if there's a rumor, there's something to it"), but today it mostly means the reverse, a baseless rumor (纯属空穴来风).
Source (出处): 宋玉《风赋》
How is 空穴来风 used? Two examples
- 公司要裁员的消息并非空穴来风，老板昨天已经找人谈了。
The talk of layoffs at the company isn't groundless; the boss already called some people in yesterday.
- 邻居说我们楼要拆，结果纯属空穴来风，根本没这回事。
The neighbors said our building was going to be torn down, but it turned out to be a rumor with nothing to it.
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