埋头苦干
mái tóu kǔ gàn
to keep one’s head down and work hard
Character by character
埋mái
bury
bury
头tóu
head
head
苦kǔ
bitterly
bitterly
干gàn
work
work
Example
他不爱说话，只知道埋头苦干。
He doesn’t talk much — he just keeps his head down and works.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
埋 is mái and 干 is gàn here.
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