What do Chinese office workers call slacking off?
The everyday word is 摸鱼 (mōyú), literally "to touch fish": to slack off at work while looking busy. It is casual: say it to colleagues your own age, not to your manager. Below, the two words closest to it, the ones people confuse it with, and the rest of the office vocabulary, 29 words in all, each labelled with who you can say it to and whether people still use it.
29 workplace wordslast checked
Slacking off: the three words for it
- 摸鱼mōyú
- Literally says to touch fishActually means to slack off at work while looking busy
- 划水huáshuǐ
- Literally says to paddle waterActually means coasting through work while looking busy, doing the bare minimum
- 打酱油dǎ jiàngyóu
- Literally says to buy soy sauceActually means just passing by, not involved, none of my business
Not the same thing: quitting in place
Slacking off happens inside a job you are keeping. These three are about giving up on the competition itself, which is why swapping one family for the other changes what you are saying about your life.
- 躺平tǎngpíng
- Literally says to lie flatActually means to quit the rat race and do the bare minimum on purpose
- 摆烂bǎilàn
- Literally says to put the rot on displayActually means to stop trying and let everything fall apart on purpose
- 精神离职jīngshén lízhí
- Literally says mental resignationActually means quitting in your head while keeping the job, doing the minimum and caring about nothing
How to read the last column
- Safe with anyone
- Fine at work, fine with your partner's parents.
- Friends and coworkers
- Normal among people your own age. Skip it with elders, clients and officials.
- Close friends only
- Carries a swear or an insult. Only with people who would swear back.
- Hot right now
- In heavy use at the moment.
- Settled in
- Past the fad stage, part of everyday speech.
- On the way out
- Still understood, but it dates you a little.
All 29 workplace words29 words
| Word | Literally says | Actually means | Who to, and still used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 内卷nèijuǎn | to roll inward | everyone competing harder and harder while nobody actually gets ahead | Safe with anyoneSettled insince 2020 |
| 躺平tǎngpíng | to lie flat | to quit the rat race and do the bare minimum on purpose | Safe with anyoneSettled insince 2021 |
| 摆烂bǎilàn | to put the rot on display | to stop trying and let everything fall apart on purpose | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2022 |
| 摸鱼mōyú | to touch fish | to slack off at work while looking busy | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2019 |
| 打工人dǎgōngrén | the working person | us wage earners, said with dark humor about having no choice | Safe with anyoneSettled insince 2020 |
| 上岸shàng'àn | to come ashore | to finally pass the exam or land the stable job you fought for | Safe with anyoneSettled insince 2021 |
| 班味bānwèi | work shift smell | the drained, gray aura that a job puts on you | Friends and coworkersHot right nowsince 2024 |
| 草台班子cǎotái bānzi | a grass stage troupe | a sloppy amateur crew pretending to be professionals | Friends and coworkersHot right nowsince 2024 |
| 社畜shèchù | corporate livestock | an office worker who feels owned and milked by the company, said with tired self mockery | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 996jiǔ jiǔ liù | nine nine six | working 9am to 9pm, six days a week, the brutal schedule tied to Chinese tech companies | Safe with anyoneSettled insince 2019 |
| 卷王juǎnwáng | the roll king | the person whose extreme grinding forces everyone around them to compete harder | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 划水huáshuǐ | to paddle water | coasting through work while looking busy, doing the bare minimum | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 打酱油dǎ jiàngyóu | to buy soy sauce | just passing by, not involved, none of my business | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2008 |
| 职场PUAzhíchǎng PUA | workplace pickup artistry | a boss using manipulation, belittling and guilt to control employees | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 整顿职场zhěngdùn zhíchǎng | to rectify the workplace | young workers openly refusing unfair office norms like unpaid overtime | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 精神离职jīngshén lízhí | mental resignation | quitting in your head while keeping the job, doing the minimum and caring about nothing | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 赋能fùnéng | to grant power | corporate speak for empower or enable, now mocked as a word that says nothing | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 抓手zhuāshǒu | a handle to grab | corporate speak for the key lever of a project, mocked as jargon | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 闭环bìhuán | a closed loop | corporate speak for wrapping a process end to end, mocked when everything is called a loop | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 大小周dà xiǎo zhōu | big week small week | alternating six day and five day work weeks, a softer cousin of 996 | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 牛马niúmǎ | ox and horse | a self mocking name for an overworked employee treated like a beast of burden | Friends and coworkersHot right nowsince 2025 |
| 脆皮打工人cuìpí dǎgōngrén | crispy skinned worker | a young worker whose body seems to break at the slightest touch, joking about bad health | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2023 |
| 全职儿女quánzhí érnǚ | full time son or daughter | a young adult paid by their parents to live at home and help out instead of taking a job | Friends and coworkersHot right nowsince 2023 |
| 孔乙己文学Kǒng Yǐjǐ wénxué | Kong Yiji literature, after the Lu Xun character too proud to drop his scholar's gown | graduates who feel their degree makes humble work beneath them, and the debate around that pride | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2023 |
| 反向背调fǎnxiàng bèidiào | reverse background check | a job candidate secretly investigating the company before accepting an offer | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2023 |
| 数字游民shùzì yóumín | digital nomad | someone who works remotely while moving between cities or countries | Safe with anyoneHot right now |
| 早八人zǎobā rén | 8am person | someone trapped in an early class or shift, said with suffering and solidarity | Friends and coworkersSettled in |
| 职场黑话zhíchǎng hēihuà | workplace secret language | hollow corporate buzzwords like empower and closed loop that sound smart but say little | Safe with anyoneSettled in |
| 养龙虾yǎng lóngxiā | to raise a lobster | to keep an autonomous AI agent running that does real work for you, named after the red lobster logo of the app everyone used | Friends and coworkersSettled insince 2026 |
Questions
- What do Chinese office workers call slacking off?
- The everyday word is 摸鱼 (mōyú), literally "to touch fish": to slack off at work while looking busy. Two near neighbours: 划水 (huáshuǐ) is coasting through work while looking busy, doing the bare minimum, and 打酱油 (dǎ jiàngyóu) means just passing by, not involved, none of my business. All three are casual: fine with colleagues your own age, not something to say to your manager.
- What is the difference between moyu and tangping?
- 摸鱼 is slacking off inside a job you are keeping: you are at your desk, you look busy, you are not working. 躺平 is opting out of the competition altogether, to quit the rat race and do the bare minimum on purpose. One is a Tuesday afternoon, the other is a life decision.
- Can I say these to my Chinese boss?
- Only the ones marked anyone in the table below, and even then read the room. The ones marked casual are for colleagues at your level. Saying you have been slacking off is a joke among peers and a confession to a manager, exactly as it would be in English.
- Are these words still current?
- Every term in the table carries a hot, steady or fading judgement, and the month that judgement was last reviewed. For this list that month is 2026-09. A slang list without a date on it is not something to trust.
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