戦せん々せん慄りつ々りつ

Meanings

taru-adjective, adverb taking the 'to' particle

trembling with fear; filled with trepidation

archaicyojijukugo (four-character idiom)

Archaic yojijukugo describing a state of extreme fear or anxiety, often used in literary or historical contexts. Functions as a taru-adjective or adverb with と.

彼かれは戦々せんせん慄々りつりつとして敵てきの到とう来らいを待まった。
He waited for the enemy's arrival, trembling with fear.
戦々せんせん慄々りつりつたる思おもいで試し験けんの結けっ果かを見みた。
I looked at the exam results with a feeling of trepidation.

Kanji

戦war, battle, match
慄fear
栗chestnut

Related words

慄おののく
A verb meaning 'to tremble' or 'to shudder' (with fear), more commonly used in modern Japanese than the archaic compound 戦々慄々.
恐きょう怖ふ
A general noun for 'fear' or 'terror', neutral in register and widely used, unlike the literary and archaic 戦々慄々.

Written forms

戦せん々せん慄りつ々りつ
Standard kanji form for this yojijukugo.
戦せん戦せん慄りつ慄りつ
Non-repetition kanji variant; less common but still encountered.
戦せん々せん栗りつ々りつ
Variant using simplified 栗 instead of 慄.
戦せん戦せん栗りつ栗りつ
Rare non-repetition simplified variant.

Etymology

A yojijukugo composed of 戦 (war, battle, tremble) and 慄 (fear, tremble), each repeated for emphasis. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it is a classical Chinese-derived expression for extreme fear.