迫不及待

• Pinyin: pò bù jí dài
• Hanzi breakdown: 迫 = 辶 + 白 (movement + white/clear — to press forward urgently); 不 = (negation); 及 = (hand reaching — to reach/attain); 待 = 彳 + 寺 (walking + temple — to wait)

Meaning

Too impatient to wait; desperately eager; unable to hold back one's eagerness. Describes an urgent, irrepressible desire to do something immediately.

Can be positive (excited eagerness: 迫不及待地想分享好消息) or neutral/slightly negative (impatience: 迫不及待地宣布结论 = announcing conclusions without waiting for evidence). Common in both written and spoken language.

Examples

1. 孩子们在礼物堆旁迫不及待地等待着，父母话音未落便已开始拆开包装纸，欢呼声响彻整个客厅。 The children waited impatiently beside the pile of gifts; before their parents had even finished speaking, they were already tearing off the wrapping paper, and cheers filled the living room.
2. 新产品发布消息一出，大批忠实粉丝便迫不及待地在官网预购页面排队，刷新频率远超服务器承载上限。 As soon as the new product launch was announced, crowds of loyal fans couldn’t wait to line up on the official pre-order page, refreshing so often it far exceeded the server’s capacity.
3. 她在看完初稿之后迫不及待地联系编辑，表示强烈希望这部手稿能够尽快进入出版流程。 After reading the first draft, she couldn’t wait to contact the editor, strongly hoping the manuscript could enter the publishing process as soon as possible.

Usage Guide

Context: excitement, motivation, consumer behavior, narrative

Tone: positive

Do Say

• 研究团队在观察到初步实验结果后便迫不及待地向学界公开了预印本，尽管完整的同行评审尚未完成。(The research team, after observing preliminary experimental results, eagerly released a preprint to the academic community even though the complete peer review had not yet been finished.)
• 在谈判尚未达成最终协议之前便迫不及待地对外宣布合作意向，此举无疑削弱了己方在后续细节磋商中的谈判筹码。(Eagerly announcing cooperation intentions to the outside world before negotiations had reached a final agreement undoubtedly weakened one's own bargaining chips in the subsequent detailed consultations.)

Don't Say

• 迫不及待 specifically implies eagerness/impatience — do not use it for reluctant or forced urgency; for being compelled by circumstances, use 不得不 or 被迫; the idiom requires a following 地 + verb: 迫不及待地做某事

Origin & History

迫 (urgent, to press) + 不 (not) + 及 (to reach) + 待 (to wait). Literally: so urgent it cannot even reach waiting — too impatient to wait.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal