如喪考妣

From the Book of Documents (《尚書·舜典》):

十有八載，帝乃殂落。百姓如喪考妣，三載，四海遏密八音。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]

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十有八载，帝乃殂落。百姓如丧考妣，三载，四海遏密八音。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Shí yǒu bā zǎi, Dì nǎi cúluò. Bǎixìng rú sàng kǎobǐ, sān zǎi, sìhǎi è mì bāyīn. [Pinyin]

After twenty-eight years the Di deceased, when the people mourned for him as for a parent for three years. Within the four seas all the eight kinds of instruments of music were stopped and hushed.

如喪考妣

1. (now derogatory) grieved or anxious as if one had lost one's parents

   • 陛下不幸北城，北城百姓如喪考妣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     陛下不幸北城，北城百姓如丧考妣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 宋．司馬光《涑水記聞》卷六

     Bìxià bùxìng Běichéng, Běichéng bǎixìng rúsàngkǎobǐ. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. concentrate on things

   • 曰：『此生若不徹去，誓不展此。』於是晝坐宵立，如喪考妣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     曰：『此生若不彻去，誓不展此。』于是昼坐宵立，如丧考妣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 《五燈會元．卷一九．何山守珣禪師》

     Yuē: ‘Cǐ shēng ruò bù chè qù, shì bù zhǎn cǐ.’ Yúshì zhòu zuò xiāo lì, rúsàngkǎobǐ. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• “如喪考妣”, in 重編國語辭典修訂本 [Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), National Academy for Educational Research (Taiwan), 2021.