无精打采
- Literal
- no energy, no spirits raised
- Figurative
- Listless, with no energy, from tiredness, lack of sleep, boredom or low spirits; it paints a lack of spark, not the blow of a setback.
Where does 无精打采 come from?
It does not come from a story; it is an everyday expression. 精 is energy or vigor, and 采 the spark of spirit that shows in the face (the same as in 神采); 打 is understood as in 打起精神, "to rouse, to summon up." Someone who is 无精打采 has no energy and cannot muster any spirit: they drag their feet, yawn, answer half-heartedly. It already appears in the Qing novel 《红楼梦》, written 无精打彩. Unlike 垂头丧气, which is dejection after a setback, it usually describes tiredness, sleepiness, boredom, low spirits or plain apathy: what it paints is the lack of spark.
Source (出处): 《红楼梦》
How is 无精打采 used? Two examples
- 昨晚没睡好，他今天上课一直无精打采的。
He didn't sleep well last night, and he's been dragging himself through class all day.
- 下午的会开得太长，会议室里的人个个无精打采，没人发言。
The afternoon meeting dragged on so long that everyone in the room sat there listless, and nobody spoke up.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
