余よ喘ぜん

noun

lingering life; feeble existence; brink of ruin

Literary noun describing a state of barely surviving, a life hanging by a thread, or a situation on the verge of collapse. Often used in dramatic or historical contexts.

• 戦せん乱らんの後あと、彼かれは余よ喘ぜんを保たもつだけの生せい活かつを送おくった。

  After the war, he lived a life barely clinging to survival.

• その組そ織しきはもはや余よ喘ぜんの状じょう態たいに過すぎない。

  The organization is now nothing more than a lingering shadow of its former self.