内卷
nèi juǎn · HSK 6
toxic competition
🐀🏃 inner + roll — everyone rolls inward, grinding harder going nowhere
Literally rolling inward: a hamster wheel of competition where harder effort just raises the bar for everyone. Originally an anthropology term for societies that intensify labor without real progress.
内 — enclosure 冂 + enter 入
内 originally depicted something entering (入) into an enclosed space (冂), giving the core sense of 'inside' or 'within'. The pictographic image of going into a covered area extended naturally to meanings like inner, internal, and inland. It contrasts with 外 ('outside').
卷 — 卷 = 龹 (top, hands rolling) + 㔾 (kneeling person)
Originally depicted hands rolling something up over a bent figure, suggesting the act of curling or rolling. The core sense 'to roll up' extended to 'scroll' (rolled documents) and 'volume' of a book. By sound extension it also means 'curly' and serves as a measure word for scrolls or exam papers.