不振
ふしん · fushin · JLPT N1 · noun
dullness
🐌 不振 = not (不) + vigour (振, shake/swing): the energy has stopped shaking
振 means to shake, swing or rouse, as in 振動 vibration and 振興 revival. With 不 in front it means the vigour is gone: sales, health or spirits gone flat. Use it for a market in slump or a person with no energy.
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.