折腾 (zhē teng) — to put (someone) through unnecessary trouble or torment; to mess around (inefficiently), to waste or squander (time, money)
Definition
折腾 covers two connected ideas: to harass or torment someone (e.g. overwork, badger), and to fiddle around wastefully, squandering time/money. Unlike 耗, the focus is on the suffering or pointless action, not the resource itself.
verb
to put (someone) through unnecessary trouble or tormentto mess around (inefficiently)to waste or squander (time, money)
Examples
- 折腾，。Tā měi tiān zhē teng hái zi xué gāng qín, hái zi dōu kuài shòu bù liǎo le.He torments his child into learning piano every day; the child can hardly bear it.
- 折腾，。Bié zài zhē teng zhè xiē wén jiàn le, wǒ men yào de shì jié guǒ.Stop messing around with these papers; we need results.
- 折腾。Tā bǎ jiā lǐ de qián dōu zhē teng guāng le.He squandered all the family's money.
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