Feeling burned out? There's a word for that in Mandarin Chinese

If you are feeling dispirited at work or burned out by the general pressure of life, there is a perfect word for you: "involution."

The Mandarin Chinese word for "involution" — neijuan — is now a ubiquitous slang term. It has struck a chord with students exhausted by relentless academic competition, parents overwhelmed by social expectations and workers constantly filling overtime shifts. So for this installment of Word of the Week, we explore the evolution of involution.

"Involution" first appeared in English with its modern connotation of futility in a 1963 academic tract by American anthropologist Clifford Geertz on Dutch colonial society in Indonesia. He had observed people working harder than ever on the land — but yielding less and less food.

The term then bounced around niche