打工魂

dǎgōnghún

noun

Meanings

1 worker's soul; worker spirit
2 internet slang for the grind mindset of salaried workers in Chinese cities

Characters

Examples

HSK 4

这首歌唱出了打工魂。

Zhè shǒu gē chàng chū le dǎgōnghún.

This song sings out the worker's soul.

HSK 5

早上七点起床挤地铁,打工魂又燃烧起来了。

Zǎoshang qī diǎn qǐchuáng jǐ dìtiě, dǎgōnghún yòu ránshāo qǐlái le.

Up at 7 to cram onto the subway - the worker's soul is burning again.

HSK 5

打工人没有打工魂可不行。

Dǎgōngrén méiyǒu dǎgōnghún kě bùxíng.

A wage slave without the worker's soul just won't do.

Tips

register

Spun off from 2020's viral 打工人 (dǎgōngrén, 'worker person') meme, which recast the somewhat blue-collar term 打工 (to work for someone) as a self-deprecating label for white-collar cubicle slaves. 打工魂 pushes the same joke into mock-epic territory - burning the 'worker's soul' for someone else's KPIs.

culture

Part of a family of 2020s work-culture memes including 内卷 (involution), 躺平 (lying flat), 摸鱼 (skiving), and 996 (the 9am-9pm-6day tech work schedule).

Stroke Order

打 dǎ

工 gōng

魂 hún