Involution — pointless competition where everyone works harder for the same result.
It exploded from academia into everyday Chinese to describe the exam grind, the job market, and overtime culture. If everyone studies two extra hours and the rankings stay identical, that is 内卷. Its opposite response is 躺平 (lying flat) — opting out.
Borrowed from an anthropology term for a system that grows more complex without progressing.
Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Chinese — it uses 内卷 the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Chinese.
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