Overwhelm & Struggle

Words in this collection

• 안간힘을 쓰다 (an-gan-him-eul sseu-da) — This phrase is for the effort itself, not the outcome. A student failing a class but still showing up to every extra study session is '안간힘을 쓰다' — visibly straining, whether or not it works out.
• 버겁다 (beo-geop-da) — You are literally carrying too much weight. If you are a junior employee put in charge of a massive global project with zero help, the responsibility feels '버겁다'. It implies you are struggling just to keep your head above water.
• 부담스럽다 (bu-dam-seu-reop-da) — It's the specific discomfort of someone doing 'too much' for you, or asking for 'too much' from you. If a new coworker buys you an expensive gift on day one, the gesture itself feels '부담스럽다' — you now feel obligated to match it.
• 기진맥진하다 (gi-jin-maek-jin-ha-da) — A vivid four-syllable idiom for total physical and mental depletion — past just tired, past even '지치다'. After moving apartments alone in one day, or finishing a marathon you didn't train enough for, you collapse on the floor '기진맥진한' state, unable to do one more thing.
• 고달프다 (go-dal-peu-da) — A more literary, weathered word than '힘들다' — it carries the sense of a life that has been hard for a long time, not just today. It's the word for a life story, not a bad Tuesday.
• 힘들다 (him-deul-da) — The single most common way Koreans describe a rough patch — work, relationships, life in general. It's less dramatic than '버겁다', more of an everyday-strength word: simple, honest, and used constantly in real conversation.
• 지치다 (ji-chi-da) — Not just tired for a night — this is the slow-drain kind of exhausted, built up over days of grinding through something with no real rest. If you've worked six days straight and even your favorite show can't hold your attention anymore, you're '지치다'.
• 지긋지긋하다 (ji-geut-ji-geut-ha-da) — This is what you feel about a problem that keeps coming back, not a one-time hardship. If your upstairs neighbor has stomped around at 2am for the tenth night in a row, the noise itself becomes '지긋지긋하다' — you dread even hearing it start.
• 진땀나다 (jin-ttam-na-da) — The physical tell of being cornered. If your boss asks you a question in a meeting that you have absolutely no answer for, and everyone is staring at you waiting, that's the exact moment you '진땀나다'.
• 눈코 뜰 새 없다 (nun-ko tteul sae eop-da) — Literally 'no time to even open your eyes and nose'. It's the go-to phrase for the kind of week where you eat lunch at your desk in four minutes and still fall behind — total, physical busyness, not emotional overwhelm.