班味

What does 班味 mean?

One month into a new job and the face in the mirror has changed: tired eyes, duller skin, no energy left for dressing up or going out. Chinese speakers call that 班味, literally the smell of work, the aura that settles on people once they start 上班. You can have a “heavy 班味”, and holiday talk is full of plans to “wash the 班味 off”. It is self-deprecation rather than insult, usually aimed at your own exhaustion, and it belongs to the same wry register as 打工人 and 牛马.

Where does 班味 come from?

An online post with a title along the lines of “once you start working, your whole aura changes” lit the fuse, listing one by one the weary traits a job leaves on people. The word spread quickly through 2024; the year-end top ten of 《咬文嚼字》 (Yaowen Jiaozi) has it.

How to use 班味

• 才上班一个月，我身上的班味就藏不住了。
  Cái shàngbān yí gè yuè, wǒ shēnshang de bān wèi jiù cáng bú zhù le.
  I've only been working for a month and the office-worker vibe is already written all over me.
• 放假第一件事：去海边把班味洗掉。
  Fàngjià dì yī jiàn shì: qù hǎibiān bǎ bān wèi xǐ diào.
  First thing on my vacation: go to the beach and wash off the work vibe.