Chinese idiom · 成语
暮气沉沉
Meaning
Twilight air heavy; lifeless and dispirited.
Character by character
Origin and story
Figurative expressionThe expression builds on the image of evening air settling heavily over a landscape. 暮气 literally suggests the atmosphere of dusk, while 沉沉 adds weight and dullness. Transferred to people or institutions, the image conveys spent energy and an inability to rouse oneself.
Han Dian cites a modern use in Fan Wenlan and collaborators' general history of China, where a court is described with this phrase. Its listed older parallel, a line by Lu You about evening haze around battlements, contains 暮气 but not the complete idiom. These attestations illustrate the imagery and later usage without securely identifying who first coined the four-character expression.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
连续加班后，整个办公室都暮气沉沉，连聊天的人也少了。
After repeated overtime, the whole office felt drained and listless; even casual conversation had faded.
Negative description of low energy or stagnation, not simply quietness or old age.