How to Understand Hot Chinese Word Lying Flat “躺平”? Then Use Tang Ping Like a Local?

What Is The Chinese Word "Lying Flat" or "Tang Ping"?

Lying Flat 的中文？ [Shì shén me]

"Lying flat", or in a similar form like "Lie down", you may probably have heard of this word on account of different disclosures for trending in China in the past year.

你很可能已经听说过这个很流行的汉语词了，毕竟它曾以 “Lying Flat” 或 “Lie Down” 出现在各类透露中国趋势的报道中。

The word "Lying flat" or "Lie down" came from a popular Chinese buzzword 躺平 (tǎng píng). It's a highly concise word of mouth in Chinese, which can be expanded to full sentences, e.g.:
我躺平了 (wǒ tǎng píng le) (I've lain down),
我选择躺平 (wǒ xuǎn zé tǎng píng) (I choose to lie flat)，
我只想躺平 (wǒ zhǐ xiǎng tǎng píng) (All I want is just lying flat),
让我躺平一下 (ràng wǒ tǎng píng yí xià) (Just let me lie flat), etc.

“Lying flat”或“lie down”都来源于一个中文流行语“躺平”。这是个精炼后的中文口语词，可以扩展成为诸多类似句子如：“我躺平了”、“我选择躺平”、“我只想躺平”、“让我躺平一下”，等等。

The Chinese "Tang Ping" (Lying Flat) Picked Into China's Word of The Year 2021

“躺平”选入年度流行语 [Nián dù líu xíng yǔ]

In the last month of every year, it always comes various summing-ups, such as the Word of the Year, or the trend of some fields. Also in China, there is the release of the top Chinese buzzwords of the year, then related discussions ensued on the Internet.

每年年尾，都会迎来各式各样的盘点和总结，比如年度风云词汇、比如某个领域的潮流趋势。在中国，也同样会在互联网上发布本年度的中文流行语名单，引发热议。

Recently, the list of "2021 The Top 10 Chinese buzzwords", or China's word of the year, are announced by the National Language Resources Monitoring And Research Center, in which the Chinese word 躺平 (Tang Ping, or literally known as lying flat) has been unsurprisingly ranked into the most popular Chinese word of the past year.

最近，在一项由中国国家语言资源监测与研究中心最新发布的“2021年度十大中文流行语”榜单中，汉语词“躺平”毫无意外地入选了。

What Is Chinese Word "Tang Ping" (Lying Flat) Consisted of?

包含的汉字和含义？ [Hàn zì hé hán yì]

In Chinese, the top buzzword 躺平 consists of two Chinese characters 躺 as a common Chinese verb and 平 as an adjective word in standard Chinese (Putonghua). Let's split the word and explain each with expositions below.

在中文里，“躺平”是由一个常见的中文动词“躺”和一个常见的形容词“平”两个汉字组合而成的。以下就拆分后的两个汉字及含义分别说明。

How to Understand Tang Ping (Lying Flat) By Splitting The Chinese Word?

躺 v.s. 平 [Tǎng hé píng]

Understand Chinese Character "躺" For Lying Flat

The Chinese buzzword 躺平 is literally taken as "lying flat" in English because each word is literally equivalent to the regular meaning of each character contained by the Chinese word 躺平.

“躺平”常用英语“lying flat”来表示，是因为对汉语词“躺平”中两个汉字逐字翻译后的结果。

Firstly, the initial character 躺 (tǎng) is an everyday Chinese verb that means to lie on somewhere with a horizontal-posed body. For example,
the common expression for "lie on bed" could be turned into Chinese 躺在床上 (tǎng zài chuáng shàng),
and the phrase to "lie on the beach" into Chinese 躺在沙滩上 (tǎng zài shā tān shàng).

“第一个汉字“躺”是个日常使用的动词，指身体水平横向倒在某处。举个例子，英语里的“lie on bed”用中文来表达是“躺在床上”，另一个类似短语“lie on the beach”则是“躺在沙滩上”。

Understand Chinese Word "平" For Lying Flat

Then, the second character 平 (píng) is a common adjective word used to describe the flat surface or similar, not curved or sloping.

第二个汉字“平”是一个常见的中文形容词，常用来描述平坦的，无高低之分、无倾斜的平面。

Thus, we can see the character
appearing in the Chinese word 平面 (píng miàn) standing for flat surface in Chinese,
appearing in the Chinese word 地平线 (dì píng xiàn) for horizon in Chinese,
appearing in other common Chinese words like 平等 (píng děng) for equality,
and 平等的 (píng děng de) for equal in Chinese.

因此，中文里常常出现这类带有“平”字的词语，如“平面”、“地平线”。也有“平等”、“平等的”这样带“平”字的常见词。

Think About Chinese Word "躺平" As a Whole

“躺平”的中文含义 [Zhōng wén hán yì]

To learn more popular Chinese words and top buzzwords, or look for starting Chinese learning entertainingly, keep an eye on our updating at www.chinaclife.com.

想学会更多的中文常用语、流行语，或想趣学中文，记得随时关注我们的更新。

Enjoy and hope it helped!