人情债 (rén qíng zhài) — a social or moral debt of gratitude; a favor that must be reciprocated
Definition
人情债 refers to an unspoken social debt of gratitude for a favor received — culturally loaded, harder to 'settle' than cash. Unlike ordinary 债 (financial debt), this is repaid through ongoing reciprocity, not a fixed sum.
noun
a social or moral debt of gratitudea favor that must be reciprocated
Examples
- ，。Shàng cì tā bāng le wǒ yí gè dà máng, wǒ xiàn zài hái qiàn zhe tā rén qíng zhài ne.Last time he helped me out a lot, and I still owe him a favor debt.
- 人情债，。Wèi le huán qīng rén qíng zhài, wǒ tè yì huā shí jiān bāng tā de hái zi bǔ xí gōng kè.To repay that favor debt, I specially took time to tutor his child.
- ，人情债。Zài zhōng guó shè huì, rén qíng zhài shì zuì nán suàn qīng de zhàng.In Chinese society, favor debts are the hardest accounts to settle.
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