Chinese idiom · 成语
舟车劳顿
Meaning
Boat and cart weariness; travel fatigue.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary attestationThe expression combines boats and vehicles with the exhaustion of a journey. Its image is practical rather than the basis of one particular heroic tale: travel by water or land can leave a person worn out. The words for the means of travel have broadened, so the expression can now apply to a tiring flight or a long train journey as well.
A documented use occurs in chapter 2 of Qian Zhongshu's twentieth-century novel Fortress Besieged. Reporters say that Dr. Fang is tired from traveling and that they will visit the following morning. This gives a concrete literary example, but it does not prove when the expression was first coined.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
你刚下飞机，舟车劳顿，先休息一晚再谈工作吧。
You have just got off the plane and must be tired from traveling; rest tonight and we can discuss work afterward.
A polite, somewhat formal way to acknowledge travel fatigue, regardless of transport.