重活

zhònghuó
noun #32,970

Meanings

  1. 1 heavy work
  2. 2 hard physical labor
  3. 3 tough job

Examples

HSK 3
Bānjiā zhè zhǒng zhònghuó wǒ yī gè rén gàn bu liǎo.
Moving house - that kind of heavy work - I can't do alone.
HSK 5
Zhònghuó ràng nánrén lái, nǐ xiē zhe.
Let the men handle the heavy work; you rest.

Tips

mistakes
Watch the tones: 重活 here is zhònghuó (heavy work) - both syllables fall. Don't confuse with 重活 (chónghuó) meaning "to come back to life / live again." Same characters, different word: has two readings (zhòng "heavy" / chóng "again"). Context disambiguates almost always.
usage
Opposite is 轻活 (qīnghuó, light work). Both are colloquial - for formal or written contexts, prefer 体力劳动 (heavy manual labor).

Stroke Order

zhòng
huó