勉强

• Pinyin: miǎn qiǎng
• Hanzi breakdown: 勉 = 免 (to escape, free) + 力 (strength) — to strive, exert effort; 强 = 弓 (bow) + 虫 (phonetic) — strong, to force

Meaning

Reluctant; to force oneself or others; barely adequate; to do something against one's will or with great difficulty. Covers both the adjective sense (barely sufficient) and the verb sense (to compel).

勉强 has two related senses: (1) adjective — barely adequate, not quite good enough, e.g. 成绩勉强及格 (grades barely passed); (2) verb — to force or compel, either oneself (勉强自己) or another person (勉强他答应). Both carry the flavour of doing something against the natural inclination or capacity. Very common in everyday speech.

Examples

1. 他的汉语水平还比较有限，用中文发表这篇演讲对他来说颇为勉强，但他仍坚持全程用中文完成。 His Chinese is still fairly limited, so giving this speech in Chinese was a real stretch for him, but he still insisted on delivering it entirely in Chinese.
2. 她勉强挤出一个笑容，努力掩盖内心的失落，但在场的朋友们还是隐约感受到了她情绪上的异样。 She forced a smile, trying to hide her disappointment, but her friends could still sense something off in her mood.
3. 这次考试他只勉强及格，老师建议他在下学期开始前利用假期系统补习薄弱的知识点。 He only barely passed this exam, and the teacher suggested he use the break to systematically review his weak areas before next semester begins.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, education, emotions, interpersonal, work

Tone: resigned

Do Say

• 他其实对这份工作并不感兴趣，每天勉强完成任务、得过且过的状态，不仅让工作效率大打折扣，也让他自己陷入了一种持续的精神消耗之中。(He was actually not interested in this job at all — the daily state of forcing himself through tasks and getting by was not only drastically reducing his work efficiency, but also draining him mentally on a sustained basis.)
• 在亲密关系中，勉强对方接受自己的想法或做法，往往只会加剧矛盾，真正有效的沟通是在充分尊重对方意愿的前提下寻求共识。(In intimate relationships, forcing the other person to accept one's ideas or ways of doing things often only intensifies conflict — truly effective communication means seeking common ground while fully respecting the other's wishes.)

Don't Say

• 将'勉强'用于正面肯定某人克服困难的努力 — 勉强含有勉为其难、不情愿或仅达到最低标准的意味，若要赞扬克服困难的努力，应用'努力''克服困难''坚持不懈'等词 (Do not use 勉强 to positively affirm someone's effort in overcoming difficulties — 勉强 carries overtones of reluctance, half-heartedness, or only barely meeting the minimum standard; to praise the effort to overcome hardship, use 努力, 克服困难, or 坚持不懈)

Origin & History

勉 = 免 (to escape/free) + 力 (strength) — to exert effort, to strive; 强 = 弓 (bow) + 虫 (insect, phonetic) — strong, to force. Together: to exert force or effort beyond one's natural inclination; barely managing.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal