hard up; in financial straits
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesadjective
hard up; financially strapped; in difficult economic circumstances
literaryOriginally used in classical Chinese to describe difficult walking, now exclusively used to describe financial hardship. It is a somewhat formal or literary term.
Gōng公
sī司
jìn近
qī期
yè业
jì绩
bù不
jiā佳
，
cái财
zhèng政
xiāng相
dāng当
jié拮
jū据
。
The company's recent performance has been poor, and its finances are quite tight.
Nà那
duàn段
shí时
jiān间
tā他
shēng生
huó活
jié拮
jū据
，
lián连
fáng房
zū租
dōu都
fù付
bù不
qǐ起
。
During that period, he was living in financial straits and couldn't even pay the rent.
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Jié拮
jū据
zhuàng状
tài态
chí持
xù续
le了
jǐ几
gè个
yuè月
，
tā他
cái才
zhǎo找
dào到
xīn新
gōng工
zuò作
。
The state of financial hardship lasted for several months before he found a new job.