牛马
niú mǎlit. “oxen and horses”
What it means
A self-mocking word white-collar workers use for themselves: 'cattle and horses,' i.e., expendable labor that works like an animal — and knows it.
In real conversation
我们就是给老板当牛马的命。
Resigned, faintly angry workplace lament.
加班到半夜，牛马都不带这么使的。
Comparing overtime to animal labor.
当牛马久了，就想躺平。
Links naturally with 内卷 and 躺平.
The deeper story
The dark humor of being "beasts of burden"
"牛马" literally means "oxen and horses" — old-school phrase for draught animals, i.e., beasts of burden. In internet slang, workers turned the label on themselves with savage irony: we carry the load, we don't get to choose the pace, and when we break down, there's a new one ready.
It's the hard-core cousin of 打工人 ("working people, the grinders"), which is livelier and more defiant. 牛马 is the bleaker version made for 2 a.m. overtime posts:
没办法，牛马嘛。
[there's no way around it — that's what oxen-and-horses are for.]
What makes it hit different
Two things set 牛马 apart from gentle self-deprecation:
Family tree
Usage warning
Rate it like a seasoning, not a main dish. Used constantly, 牛马 reads as heavy complaint; dropped in once at the end of a rough week, it lands as dark comedy almost everyone in the Chinese workplace community instantly shares.
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Related words
中登
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The anxious, clock-watching worker who bolts at quitting time and dreads any last-minute task — a '卡点着急下班' (clock-out anxiety) horse. The 'horse' (马) is a Year of the Horse pun on the '牛马' (oxen and horses) worker identity.
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The exhausted, dead-eyed aura that clings to you after a long day at work — not a literal smell, but the visible vibe of someone who has been drained by meetings, emails, and corporate nonsense.
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A viral phrase describing young workers whose salaries don't cover their living costs — so their parents are still supporting them financially even after they 'left home.' It names the phenomenon of 'working poverty' among China's single-child generation.
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割四赔五 (Charged for Four, Pay for Five)
82gē sì péi wǔ
A phrase describing a situation where you're paid for the minimum but penalized at the maximum. When you do the work, they count small; when you make a mistake, they count big.