搬砖

搬磚

bānzhuān

verb

Meanings

1 to do hard physical labor
2 to grind at a thankless job
3 to play mahjong

Characters

to move; to carry

Examples

HSK 2

我又要去搬砖了，下周见。

Wǒ yòu yào qù bānzhuān le, xiàzhōu jiàn.

Back to the daily grind - see you next week.

HSK 4

周末不加班，和朋友搬搬砖。

Zhōumò bù jiābān, hé péngyou bān bānzhuān.

No overtime this weekend - going to play some mahjong with friends.

Tips

register

Originally "hauling bricks" (construction-site labor). As office-worker slang since the 2010s, a self-deprecating way to describe mundane salaried work. The mahjong sense is a punning reference to the brick-shaped tiles.

Stroke Order

搬 bān

砖 zhuān