松弛感sōng chí gǎn

A sense of ease

méi shì, màn màn lái.没事，慢慢来。It’s fine. Take your time.

松弛感 means “a sense of ease”: the calm of someone who does not panic when things go wrong. It is a compliment, and a quality many people say they want.

Took off: 2022
Started in: A Weibo post
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

松弛 means “relaxed, loose”, and 感 means “feeling”. 感 turns adjectives into qualities in the same way in 高级感, “a high-end feel”.

A contrast is 班味, the worn-out look that a job gives you.

How people use it

It is everyday Chinese now, for people, places and styles. Some writers note that it became one more thing to work at: people worry that they do not have enough of it.

琦琦

我的火车晚点两个小时了
wǒ de huǒ chē wǎn diǎn liǎng gè xiǎo shí le
My train is two hours late.
那你怎么办？
nà nǐ zěn me bàn?
So what are you doing?
在车站喝咖啡看书，挺好的
zài chē zhàn hē kā fēi kàn shū, tǐng hǎo de
Coffee and a book at the station. It’s nice.
你这松弛感也太强了
nǐ zhè sōng chí gǎn yě tài qiáng le
Wow, you’re so relaxed about it.

More examples

她遇到问题也不急，很有松弛感。
tā yù dào wèn tí yě bù jí, hěn yǒu sōng chí gǎn.
She doesn’t panic when problems come up. She’s very calm.
我想要一点松弛感，不想天天这么累。
wǒ xiǎng yào yì diǎn sōng chí gǎn, bù xiǎng tiān tiān zhè me lèi.
I want some ease. I don’t want to be this tired every day.

Where it came from

In August 2022 a Weibo user described a family at an airport. The son’s passport had expired, so the mother stayed behind and took him home. All the luggage was checked in under her name, so the rest of the family flew without it. No one shouted or blamed anyone.

The post was widely shared, and the word moved on to celebrities, variety shows and camping trips. Xiaohongshu filled with guides to looking relaxed.

咬文嚼字 put 松弛感 on its list of the ten most popular phrases of 2024.

The original. A text post, not a picture: a traveler describes a family whose plans fell apart at check-in, and who stayed calm. The China Project tells the story. The China Project