Chōu kōng

Meaning: To steal a moment of escape from a hectic schedule — finding a sliver of free time and using it to rest, breathe, or do something just for yourself.

Language: Chinese

Literally: steal empty / steal space

Category: Everyday

Origin: Mandarin 抽空; chōu ('to extract/steal') + kōng ('empty/space').

← Back to Untranslatable Words

Loading the full interactive collection…