牛马 niú mǎ
What overworked office workers call themselves.
The short answer
CasualCurrent slangChecked November 2026
Niuma means “oxen and horses”: a worker who works long hours, does what they are told, and cannot complain. Office workers use it about themselves, as a bitter joke.
In a chat
- 亮亮 Liangliang
周末出来玩吗？
Want to go out this weekend?
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
不行，老板让我周六加班。
I can't. My boss wants me to work on Saturday.
- 亮亮 Liangliang
又加班？
Overtime again?
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
没办法，牛马没有周末。
No choice. Workhorses don't get weekends.
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How to reply
我也是牛马，一起加油吧。
I'm a workhorse too. Let's both hang in there.
早点下班，别太累了。
Try to leave early, and don't wear yourself out.
When not to use it
- Use it about yourself or your own group (我们这些牛马). Aimed at another person (你这个牛马), it is a real insult, close to “you animal”.
- Do not use it with your boss or in a work email.
What it means
牛 is an ox and 马 is a horse. Both animals work hard and get little back. When an office worker says 我就是个牛马 (“I'm just a workhorse”), they mean: I work long hours, I do what I am told, and I cannot say no.
It is close to 打工人, “working person”. 打工人 is light and cheerful. 牛马 puts the stress on the feeling of being used.
How people use it
Most people use it about themselves or their own group: 我们这些牛马 (“workhorses like us”). It is a noun, and you can put 当 in front of it: 当牛马, “to work like a workhorse”.
You see it in posts about overtime, commutes and Monday mornings, often next to 躺平 and 摆烂.
Where it comes from
The phrase is old. 作牛作马, “to be an ox, to be a horse”, means to work for someone like an animal. Chinese Wikipedia quotes it from the Song-dynasty Buddhist text 景德传灯录. Today it is usually written 做牛做马.
The short form came back on mainland social media in the 2020s as a word for overworked staff. The podcast Sinica dates the slang to about 2021 and says it became much more common in 2024. It chose 牛马 as its phrase of the year for 2024.
In use
2 examples我每天加班，真是个牛马。
I work overtime every day. I'm a real workhorse.
周一早上，地铁里全是牛马。
On Monday morning, the subway is full of workhorses.
The characters
Explore individuallyIndividual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.
Sources
This guide is original Dengdeng editorial content, offered under CC BY-SA 4.0. The linked dictionary entries adapt CC-CEDICT under the same license.