繁重

• Pinyin: fán zhòng
• Hanzi breakdown: 繁 = 敏 + 糸 — numerous/complex; 重 = 千 (thousand) + 里 (league/measure) — originally meaning 'heavy load carried a long distance'

Meaning

Onerous; heavy and burdensome. Describes tasks, responsibilities, or workloads that are both numerous and weighty.

Combines the sense of quantity (繁 = numerous) with weight (重 = heavy). Used for work, duties, taxes, or any obligation that is overwhelming in scope. A common descriptor in descriptions of labourers, students under exam pressure, and overworked professionals.

Examples

1. 矿工们每天在地下数百米处从事着繁重的体力劳动，所获得的报酬与其所承担的健康风险和工作强度严重不成比例。 Miners do grueling physical labor hundreds of meters underground every day, yet their pay is severely out of proportion to the health risks and intensity of the work they endure.
2. 她坦言，博士阶段的学业任务繁重程度远超预期，不仅要应付密集的课程和科研任务，还要承担大量的助教工作。 She admitted that the workload in a PhD program was far heavier than she had expected—not only dealing with intensive coursework and research, but also taking on a large amount of teaching assistant duties.
3. 政府出台了一系列减负政策，旨在切实减轻中小企业繁重的行政审批负担，为其创造更为宽松的营商环境。 The government introduced a series of burden-reduction policies aimed at genuinely easing the heavy load of administrative approvals on small and medium-sized enterprises and creating a more relaxed business environment.

Usage Guide

Context: work, labour, policy, education

Tone: serious

Do Say

• 繁重的非教学负担挤压了教师备课、研究和互动时间。(Heavy non-teaching duties squeeze teachers' time for lesson preparation, research, and student interaction.)
• 繁重的赔款压力迫使清末朝廷不断加税，激化基层矛盾。(Heavy indemnity pressure forced the late Qing court to keep raising taxes, intensifying grassroots conflict.)

Don't Say

• 繁重的快乐 — 繁重 specifically denotes burdensome weight and cannot modify something enjoyable; use 丰富多彩的活动 or 充实的生活 to describe a full and rewarding schedule

Origin & History

繁 (numerous/abundant) + 重 (heavy/weighty) — numerous and heavy burdens combined

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal