内卷
nèi juǎn
In English
the rat race / cutthroat grind
Illustration
coming soon
What does 内卷 mean?
Pointless, exhausting competition where everyone works harder and harder just to stay in the same place — the rat race with no payoff.
Character breakdown
inward; internal
to roll up; curl
Hear it explained
Short audio explainer coming soon.
Example
公司加班太严重了，卷得我喘不过气。
Gōngsī jiābān tài yánzhòng le, juǎn de wǒ chuǎn bù guò qì.
The overtime here is brutal — the grind is suffocating.
What 内卷 goes with
Where 内卷 comes from
Borrowed from the anthropology term "involution". It went viral around 2020 among students and white-collar workers and is now everyday vocabulary.
Related slang
Opting out of the grind — refusing to overwork, over-compete, or chase society's expectations. A quiet protest against 内卷.
Deliberately letting things go to ruin — when a situation is already hopeless, you stop trying entirely. More nihilistic than 躺平.
The overachiever who out-grinds everyone — staying latest, doing the most, dragging the bar up for the whole team. The champion of 内卷.