气馁

• Pinyin: qì něi
• Hanzi breakdown: 气 = 气 (spirit/morale); 馁 = 饣(food) + 妥 (settled/weakened) (hungry/dispirited)

Meaning

Dispirited; disheartened; discouraged. A state of diminished morale and resolve after setbacks or failure.

Used to describe a loss of motivation or confidence in the face of difficulty. Antonym: 振奋 (invigorated). Common in motivational, educational, and literary contexts. Slightly more literary and formal than 泄气.

Examples

1. 接连遭受失败的他一度感到气馁，但最终凭借坚定的意志走出了人生低谷。 After repeated failures, he felt discouraged for a time, but in the end he relied on strong will to climb out of a low point in life.
2. 优秀的教师懂得在学生遇到困难时及时给予鼓励，帮助他们克服气馁情绪。 A good teacher knows to encourage students promptly when they run into difficulties, helping them overcome feelings of discouragement.
3. 尽管竞争异常激烈，她从未气馁，始终以饱满的热情投入到科研工作中。 Even though the competition was extremely intense, she never got discouraged and always threw herself into her research with full enthusiasm.

Usage Guide

Context: motivation, education, psychology

Tone: empathetic

Do Say

• 面对重重阻碍，团队成员难免感到气馁，此时领导者的及时鼓励尤为关键。(Faced with repeated obstacles, team members inevitably feel discouraged; at such times the leader's timely encouragement is especially crucial.)
• 他告诫自己绝不气馁，将每一次挫折都视为通往最终成功的必经之路。(He told himself never to be disheartened, treating every setback as a necessary path on the road to ultimate success.)

Don't Say

• 他气馁地吃饭 — 气馁 specifically describes loss of morale from setbacks; use 无精打采/闷闷不乐 for general low spirits without a specific cause

Origin & History

气 (spirit/morale) + 馁 (hungry/depleted) — spirit becoming famished and depleted

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal