| 事儿 | shì r | one's employment / business / matter that needs to be settled / (northern dialect) (of a person) demanding / trying / troublesome / erhua variant of 事[shi4] / CL:件[jian4],樁|桩[zhuang1] |   |
| 难捱 | nán ái | trying / difficult | |
| 焦头烂额 | jiāo tóu làn é | lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom) / fig. hard-pressed / under pressure (from a heavy workload, creditors etc) | |
| 开倒车 | kāi dào chē | to drive in reverse / fig. to take a backward step / retrogressive / trying to turn the clock back | |
| 不避斧钺 | bù bì fǔ yuè | not trying to avoid the battle-ax (idiom) / not afraid of dying in combat / not afraid of being executed | |
| 互相推诿 | hù xiāng tuī wěi | mutually shirking responsibilities (idiom) / each blaming the other / passing the buck to and fro / each trying to unload responsibilities onto the other | |
| 欲盖弥彰 | yù gài mí zhāng | trying to hide it makes it more conspicuous (idiom) / A cover up only makes matters worse. | |
| 死马当活马医 | sǐ mǎ dāng huó mǎ yī | lit. to give medicine to a dead horse (idiom) / fig. to keep trying everything in a desperate situation | |
| 赔了夫人又折兵 | péi le fū rén yòu zhé bīng | having given away a bride, to lose one's army on top of it (idiom) / to suffer a double loss after trying to trick the enemy | |
| 螳臂当车 | táng bì dāng chē | a mantis trying to stop a chariot (idiom) / to overrate oneself and attempt sth impossible / also written 螳臂擋車|螳臂挡车[tang2 bi4 dang3 che1] | |
| 人心不足蛇吞象 | rén xīn bù zú shé tūn xiàng | a man who is never content is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant (idiom) | |
| 撼树蚍蜉 | hàn shù pí fú | lit. an ant trying to shake a tree / to overrate oneself (idiom) | |
| 刻鹄类鹜 | kè hú lèi wù | to aim to carve a swan and get a semblance of a duck (idiom) / to fail utterly in trying to copy something / to get a reasonably good, if not perfect, result | |
| 死马当活马医 | sǐ mǎ dàng huó mǎ yī | lit. to give medicine to a dead horse (idiom) / fig. to keep trying everything in a desperate situation | |
| 连滚带爬 | lián gǔn dài pá | rolling and crawling / trying frantically to escape (idiom) | |
| 不求有功，但求无过 | bù qiú yǒu gōng , dàn qiú wú guò | lit. not aiming to achieve the best possible result, but rather trying to avoid making mistakes (idiom) / fig. to take a risk-averse approach | |
| 搬起石头砸自己的脚 | bān qǐ shí tou zá zì jǐ de jiǎo | to crush one's own foot while trying to maneuver a rock (to a cliff edge, to drop on one's enemy) (idiom) / hoisted by one's own petard | |
| 蚍蜉撼树 | pí fú hàn shù | lit. an ant trying to shake a tree / to overrate oneself (idiom) | |
| 害人之心不可有，防人之心不可无 | hài rén zhī xīn bù kě yǒu , fáng rén zhī xīn bù kě wú | refrain from hurting others, yet guard against those trying to hurt you (proverb) | |
| 蚍蜉撼大树 | pí fú hàn dà shù | lit. an ant trying to shake a big tree (idiom) / fig. to overrate one's own strength / also written 蚍蜉撼樹|蚍蜉撼树[pi2 fu2 han4 shu4] | |
| 蚁族 | yǐ zú | "ant tribe", college graduates who endure cramped living conditions while trying to develop a career | |
| 不成功便成仁 | bù chéng gōng biàn chéng rén | to succeed or die trying (idiom) | |
| 老鼠拉龟，无从下手 | lǎo shǔ lā guī , wú cóng xià shǒu | like mice trying to pull a turtle, nowhere to get a hand grip (idiom) / no clue where to start | |
| 强扭的瓜不甜 | qiǎng niǔ de guā bù tián | lit. if you have to use force to break a melon off the vine, it won't taste sweet (because it's only when the melon is ripe that it can be removed with just a slight twist) (idiom) / fig. if sth is not meant to be, it's no use trying to force it to happen | |
| 阵痛期 | zhèn tòng qī | trying times / painful phase | |
| 备孕 | bèi yùn | to be trying to get pregnant | |
