上劲

上勁

shàngjìn

verb #37,500

Meanings

1 to get into the swing of it
2 to warm up; to get worked up
3 to gather steam

Characters

Examples

孩子们越玩越上劲。

Háizimen yuè wán yuè shàngjìn.

The kids got more and more excited as they played.

他一上劲就停不下来。

Tā yī shàngjìn jiù tíng bu xiàlái.

Once he gets going, he can't stop.

聊到老电影，老张说得特别上劲。

Liáo dào lǎo diànyǐng, Lǎo Zhāng shuō de tèbié shàngjìn.

When the talk turned to old movies, Old Zhang got really fired up.

Tips

register

Colloquial. 劲 (jìn) here means 'energy / momentum', so 上劲 is literally 'energy goes up' — the moment someone shifts from going through the motions to actually getting into it. Often paired with 越…越上劲 ('the more X, the more into it').

Stroke Order

上 shàng

劲 jìn