Slang of the Week
“Won until numb”
赢麻了 (yíng má le) — what it means, where it comes from, and how to use it
“Won until numb”
What it means
This phrase has two parts:
- “To win” (赢 yíng)
- “To go numb” (麻了 má le)
So “won until numb” (赢麻了) means winning so much, so often, that victory has stopped registering.
In English it means: “totally crushed it”.
But there’s also a second use, which is aimed at people who insist loudly that they’re winning when they plainly are not.
Where it comes from
This phrase comes from a two-part internet joke:
“Qin Shi Huang touches a live wire — and wins until numb.”
秦始皇摸电线——赢麻了。
This first appeared online around 2021, and is a pun on the First Emperor’s family name, Ying (嬴), which is a perfect homophone of “to win” (赢).
Touch a live wire, and the shock leaves you “numb” (麻). But put the two phrases together and it becomes China’s first emperor who has “won until numb”.
This phrase started in gaming circles as self-mockery, for winning so often that victory stopped meaning anything, and spread through Tieba forums.
Along the way it produced a template, “done until numb” (X麻了), where anything can happen to the point of numbness: “losing until numb” (输麻了), “earning until numb” (赚麻了).
The phrase peaked in 2022, and by then it had acquired its second, sarcastic edge — a dry comment on anyone declaring victory a little too insistently.
It was named in the annual buzzword lists of 2022.
The joke only works because of a fact many learners probably don’t know, which is the First Emperor of China’s real name. The name you might know is actually his title, “First Emperor of Qin” (秦始皇), built on the word “emperor” (皇帝), which he coined for himself by fusing the titles of China’s mythical sage-rulers, the Three Sovereigns (三皇) and Five Emperors (五帝). His actual name was Ying Zheng (嬴政): the family name Ying (嬴), one of the oldest recorded surnames in China. The surname Ying (嬴) has almost vanished from use today, but it’s been kept alive online thanks to this slang phrase.
How to use it
“Totally crushed it” (赢麻了) works either as real admiration or as a dry comment on someone claiming victory.
Following business news:
“With the TikTok ban fast approaching, RedNote has won big this round.”
TikTok禁令大限将近，小红书却赢麻了。
Praising a team:
“Their marketing team absolutely cleaned up.”
他们的营销团队赢麻了。
The dry version:
“Worked overtime all weekend, and the boss rewarded me with a ‘good job’. I’m winning so hard.”
周末加了两天班，老板夸了一句”辛苦了”。我真是赢麻了。
Now it’s your turn
Time to claim a win — real or small, doesn’t matter. Fill in the blanks:
别人还在＿＿，我已经＿＿了。这一波，我赢麻了。
(“While everyone else was still ＿＿, I’d already ＿＿. This round, I totally crushed it.”)
Make a sentence and hit reply to this email — I look at every response!
And try it in a real conversation this week.