磨蹭

móceng

verb #9,098

Meanings

1 to dawdle
2 to dilly-dally
3 to waste time by being slow

Characters

to grind; to wear down; to dawdle

to rub; to shuffle; to move slowly

Examples

别磨蹭了，快走吧！

Bié móceng le, kuài zǒu ba!

Stop dawdling, let's go!

你怎么总是磨蹭？

Nǐ zěnme zǒngshì móceng?

Why are you always so slow?

他磨蹭了半天才出门。

Tā móceng le bàntiān cái chūmén.

He dawdled for ages before leaving the house.

Tips

usage

磨蹭 is colloquial and mildly critical — used when someone is annoyingly slow or dragging their feet. Common in spoken Chinese, especially from parents to children.

register

Informal/spoken. In formal writing, use 拖延 instead.

Stroke Order

磨 mó

蹭 cèng