拼命

• Pinyin: pīn mìng
• Hanzi breakdown: 拼 = 扌 + 并 (hand + merge — to put everything together); 命 = 口 + 令 (mouth + command — life/fate as decreed)

Meaning

To risk one's life; to exert every ounce of effort regardless of personal cost. Used as a verb (to fight desperately) or adverb (with desperate, all-consuming intensity).

拼命 literally means 'to stake one's life.' As an adverb it modifies verbs to indicate desperate intensity: 拼命工作 (work with desperate effort), 拼命跑 (run for dear life). The tone ranges from genuinely heroic to satirically excessive, depending on context.

Examples

1. 救援队员们拼命在废墟中挖掘，争分夺秒地搜寻每一个可能还有生命迹象的被困者。 Rescue workers dug frantically through the rubble, racing against the clock to search for anyone who might still show signs of life.
2. 他拼命压低成本、扩大产能，却忽视了产品质量的把控，最终导致大批次退货，损失惨重。 He pushed relentlessly to cut costs and expand output, but neglected quality control; in the end, massive returns followed and the losses were devastating.
3. 为了在截止日期前完成项目，团队成员拼命加班，连续数周每天工作超过十六个小时，体力消耗极大。 To finish the project before the deadline, the team worked themselves to the bone—putting in over sixteen hours a day for weeks—leaving them utterly exhausted.

Usage Guide

Context: work, sports, emergency, daily life

Tone: intense

Do Say

• 消防员们拼命冲进火海，将被困的老人和孩子一一背出，他们的勇气与奉献深深震撼了在场的每一位目击者。(The firefighters charged desperately into the flames, carrying out the trapped elderly and children one by one — their courage and dedication deeply shook every witness present.)
• 他并非天赋异禀，却凭借多年如一日地拼命苦练，将技术水平提升到了令同龄人望尘莫及的高度。(He is not especially gifted, yet through years of desperately hard practice, day in and day out, he has raised his technical level to heights that leave his peers far behind.)

Don't Say

• 拼命 in serious contexts implies life-or-death intensity — using it hyperbolically in trivial situations can sound melodramatic; opt for 努力 or 卖力 for ordinary strong effort

Origin & History

拼 (to go all out — 扌 hand + 并 combining everything) + 命 (life — 口 mouth + 令 command — life/fate as decreed)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal