卷不动

捲不動
juǎnbudòng
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 can't keep grinding (anymore)
  2. 2 too burned out to compete

Examples

Wǒ zhēn de juǎn bu dòng le, xiǎng tǎngpíng.
I really can't keep grinding anymore, I want to lie flat.
Hùliánwǎng hángyè dàjiā dōu kāishǐ juǎn bu dòng le.
In the internet industry, everyone is starting to be unable to keep up the rat race.

Tips

culture
Sits at the heart of the 内卷 (nèijuǎn) 'involution' / 躺平 (tǎngpíng) 'lying flat' discourse that took over Chinese social media around 2020. here is the verb sense of '内卷' — competing harder for the same shrinking pie. 卷不动 = 'I'm out, I can't keep up the rat race.'
register
Internet slang, very colloquial. Common in office/student venting. The grammatical shape is 动词 + 'verbally unable to (keep) doing,' a productive pattern ( 'can't keep walking,' 'can't eat any more').

Stroke Order

juǎn
dòng