Bul-myeon-bul-hyu

不

아닐 불

眠

잘 면

不

아닐 불

休

쉴 휴

Character by character

Meaning

Neither sleeping nor resting — pouring everything into one task.

Origin

No fixed classical source; the phrase is used across Korea, China and Japan and means exactly what its four characters say.

How it is used

Used of a rescue effort or the last days before a deadline, when sleep was set aside.

Hanja不眠不休

Simplified不眠不休

Korean reading불면불휴

Pinyinbù mián bù xiū

Frequently asked questions

Q. What does Bul-myeon-bul-hyu mean?

不眠不休 · Neither sleeping nor resting — pouring everything into one task.

Q. Where does Bul-myeon-bul-hyu come from?

No fixed classical source; the phrase is used across Korea, China and Japan and means exactly what its four characters say.

Q. How is Bul-myeon-bul-hyu used?

Used of a rescue effort or the last days before a deadline, when sleep was set aside.

Idioms in the same group

愚公移山 U-gong-i-sanOld Man Yu moves the mountain — persistence accomplishes anything.磨斧作針 Ma-bu-jak-chimGrind an axe into a needle — dogged effort achieves even the impossible.螢雪之功 Hyeong-seol-ji-gongMerit earned reading by fireflies and snow-light — study achieved in hardship.切齒腐心 Jeol-chi-bu-simGrinding your teeth and letting your heart rot — nursing a grievance.臥薪嘗膽 Wa-sin-sang-damSleep on firewood and taste gall — endure any hardship to settle a score.伯牙絶絃 Baek-a-jeol-hyeonBo Ya cut his strings — losing the one person who truly understood you.

The idioms used in Korea mix phrases from the Chinese classics with ones coined in Korea. Where an expression is not used in China, the entry says so.