Chinese Internet Slang

Chinese Internet slang ( zh, s=中国网络用语, p=zhōngguó wǎngluò yòngyǔ ) refers to various kinds of Internet slang used by people on the Chinese Internet. It is often coined in response to events, the influence of the mass media and foreign culture, and the desires of users to simplify and update the Chinese language. Slang that first appears on the Internet is often adopted to become current in everyday life. It includes content relating to all aspects of social life, mass media, economic, and political topics and the like. Internet slang is arguably the fastest-changing aspect of the language, created by a number of different influences—technology, mass media and foreign culture amongst others.

The categories given below are not exclusive and are used distinguish the different kinds of Chinese internet slang. Some phrases may belong in more than one category.

Numeronyms

* 003 – (Malaysian Mandarin) condom. A reference to a condom brand of the same name.
* 007 – A variant of the 996 working hour system. Represents 00:00 hours (12:00 am) to 00:00 hours, 7 days per week (pinyin: )
* 1314 – "Forever", usually preceded by a phrase such as "I love you" or the similar. 1314 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: , "one lifetime, throughout one's life").
* 213 – "2B", represents , a person who is very stupid.
* 233 – "laughter", represents (pinyin: ).
* 250 – “stupid”, (read as whole number instead of sequentially, e.g. pinyin: ) originates from either the ancient currency or the murder of Su Qin.
* 38 – “a woman who gossips excessively”
* 4242 – (pinyin: ) "Yes", "Affirmative", or "It is", 4242 represents (pinyin: ).
* 484 – "If", represents (means yes or no).
* 520 – "I love you". 520 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ).Why Thai Laugh When Chinese Cry? Accessed 4 February 2015

* 555 "(crying)". 555 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ) the sound of tearful crying, but it is not towards the feeling of sadness, but more of pitiful.
* 666 – "cool" or "nice". 666 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ); or smooth/slick (comes from Chinese gaming slang, where gamers would put '666' in the chat after seeing another showing an impressive skill)
* 777 – "666 but better", a play on "666".
* 7451 or 7456 – "I'm angry." 7451 (pinyin: ) or 7456 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ) lit.: I'm furious.
* 748 – "Go and die!", 748 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ), the equivalent of " Get lost!", or "Go to hell!"
* 87 – (bitchy, or idiocy/idiot). 87 (pinyin: lit. , or loosely báichī) represents "bitchy" (English) or "idiocy/idiot" (Mandarin).
* 88 – "Bye bye" (goodbye). 88 (pinyin: ) represents "bye bye" (English). 886 also has the same meaning as "88".
* 94 – "So", "But", etc. 94 () represents (pinyin: jiùshì), the conjunction meaning "so", "but", "just like", "in the same way as", an agreement to something etc.
* 955 – A 9 to 5 job. Represents 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, 5 days per week (pinyin: ).
* 99 – "The wish for a couple to be together for long time", 99 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ), a long time.
* 995 – "Help", "Save me!", 995 (pinyin: ) represents (pinyin: ).
* 996 – The 996 working hour system (pinyin: )
*999 – The upside-down version of "666".

Latin abbreviations

Chinese users commonly use a pinyin-enabled QWERTY keyboard. Upper-case letters are easy to type and require no transformation. (Lower-case letters spell words which are changed into Chinese characters). Latin alphabet abbreviations (rather than Chinese characters) are also sometimes used to evade censorship.

* LZ – lóu zhǔ (), the owner of the thread, the original poster
* A – A piān, an 'adult' video
* AWSL – a wǒ sǐle (), expression of being excited upon seeing cute things. Originated from a Japanese VTuber Shirakami Fubuki's fanbase.
* BZ – bǎnzhǔ (), the moderator of an internet discussion forum
* BS – bǐshì (), to despise (verb)
* JB – jiba (), vulgar word referring to a man's private parts (male genitalia)
* CCAV – China Central Adult Video, ironic nickname for China Central Television (CCTV)
* CD – Cross dressing
* CN – chǔnǚ or chǔnán ( or ), virgin (female or male)
* CNM – cāonǐmā, fuck your mother. The most common way of cursing in China. Some phrase it "sao ni ma".
* CNMB – cāonǐmābī, fuck your mother's vagina. Used as an insult
* CP – Couple
* CPDD – CP dī dī (), used for searching team members or quick date in video games. refers to notification sound
* FL – fàláng (), hairdresser, possibly providing sex services
* FQ – fènqīng (), indignant/angry youth
* GC – gāocháo (), orgasm
* GCD – gòngchǎndǎng (), the Communist Party
* GG – gēge (), literally older brother, by extension male friend, or guy. Nowadays, people say "GG" to mean good job on the game (these two letters also mean "Good Game").
* GKD – gǎokuàidiǎn (), urge someone to speed up, usually urging others to send the link/picture/video faster
* GD – gōudā (), gang up with
* HLL – huá lì lì (), glamorous, high-profile
* JC – jǐngchá (), police
* JC – jié cāo (), moral integrity, moral principle
* JJ – jījī (), reference to the male genitalia
* JP – jípǐn (), high quality, but used ironically for things that are extremely low quality
* JY – jīngyīng (), elite, right-wing intellectuals, but also jīngyè () sperm, semen
* KD – kēngdiē (), to cheat on someone
* KJ – kǒujiāo (), oral sex
* LD – lǐng dǎo (), leadership, i.e. the government and officials
* ML – to make love
* MM – mèimèi (, , or ), little sister, young girl, pretty girl. Often written as "MM", which usually refers to a young girl or pretty girls
* NB – niúbī (), an awesome, formidably impressive person, similar to "badass"
* NMSL – nǐmāsǐle (), lit. "Your mom is dead", used as an insult
* NPY – nǚ péngyǒu or nán péngyǒu (), girlfriend or boyfriend. A gender-neutral abbreviation for a romantic partner.
* PG – pìgu (), buttocks
* P – pì mín (), rabble, hoi polloi, ordinary people, often used ironically
* PLGG – piàoliàng gēgē (), pretty boy (see GG above)
* PLMM – piàoliàng mèimei (), beautiful girl (see MM above)
* PS or P出 – Photoshopped (picture)
* RS – rèsōu (), popular search term
* SB – shǎbī (), lit. "dumb cunt", commonly used as an insult
* SMT – shāmǎtè (), unusual appearance and strange style
* SN – sauna, reinforced by its Chinese translation ''sāngná'' ()
* TMD – tāmāde (), common Chinese expletive used for "damn", "fuck", and the like
* TX – téngxùn (), Tencent
* TT – tàotao (), condom
* TTL – Tomboy's Love/ (too sweet)
* WDR – wàidìrén (), stranger, outsider, foreigner
* WSND – "Wǒ shì nǐ diē", "I am your father"
* XJ – xiǎojiě (), young woman, but also commonly for prostitute
* XSWL – xiàosǐwǒlè (), LMAO
* XXS - xiǎoxúeshēng (), elementary school student, usually refers to those who play video games and are bad at them
* XXN - xiăo xiān nǚ (), "little fairies", means "pretty girl" or "young girl"
* X人 – X rén, originated from the Myres-Briggs Type Indicator, the letters refers to the binary value to each of four categories of psychological types: introversion (I) or extraversion (E), sensing (S) or intuition (N), thinking (T) or feeling (F), and judging (J) or perceiving (P). The most popular reference for this neology is the comparison between Introversion (I 人) and Extraversion (E 人), whom represent introverts and extroverts respectively.
* XP – xìngpì (), aesthetics or orientation of appearance
* YD – yín dàng (), obscene, perverted
* YP – yuē pào (), casual sex
* YQZH – yǒuqiánzhēnhǎo (), so good to be rich, or sometimes, admire another who is rich
* YY – yì yín (), fantasizing, sexual thoughts
* YYSY – yǒuyī shuō yī (), to affirm one's opinion
* YYDS – yǒngyuǎn de shén (), "eternal God", describes an outstanding person or thing
* ZF – zhèngfǔ (), government
* ZG – zhōngguó (), China
* WDNMD – Wǒ diào nǐ mā de (), fuck you, commonly used in games such as '' CSGO''
* SMWY – Shénme wányì (), what the fuck, commonly used in video games
* GB – Gǒu bī (, ), stupid
* LJ – Lā jī (), calling someone out for being bad at playing a certain video game
* CB Penang Hokkien, Singaporean Hokkien – Jī bài (), (vagina) a Hokkien slang for fuck
* KNN Penang Hokkien, Singaporean Hokkien – Kan Ni Nia (), a Hokkien slang for fuck your mother, used as an insult
* LJ Penang Hokkien, Singaporean Hokkien – Lǎn jiào (), a Hokkien slang for penis
* LP Penang Hokkien – Lǎn pa (), a Hokkien slang for scrotum
* LC Malaysian Cantonese – Lan si (), commonly used for someone being uptight
* DLLM Cantonese – Diu lei lou mou (), commonly used phrase in the internet as fuck you
* AZ – A zhè (), used as shocked expression, something happened out of the ordinary
* WC – Wǒ cao (), I'm screwed.
* LCLY Malaysian Cantonese – lan si lan yong (), an uptight arrogant person who only talks about themselves
* NJHL Malaysian Mandarin – Nǐ jiù hǎo lo (), you have good things, and I'm miserable

Chinese characters abbreviations

* Dear (, ) – short for (), friendly term of respect, address, and the like
* Don't know (, ) – A contraction of standard Chinese "I don't know" (, )
* Life is so hard that some lies are better not exposed (, ) – This comes from the lyrics of a song entitled "Shuo Huang" (Lies), by Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin. The phrase implies a situation that is too harsh to be contemplated. For example, it can be used to describe a large group of unemployed recent college graduates. This slang reflects that some people, especially young people in China, are disappointed by reality. The phrase is often paired with "too tired to love" (see below).
* Short, ugly and poor (, or , ) – The opposite of ' below, the least ideal
* Tall, rich and handsome (, ) – This is the opposite of "" or "". Used to describe men with great wealth, a perfect body, as well as high qualifications and social status—ideal characteristics in mainland China. The word comes from an animated TV series, ''Tall, Rich and Handsome'', in which the protagonist's name was "Tall, Rich and Handsome". This slang has become widely used on the internet, symbolizing the perfect man that many women in China dream of marrying.
* Too tired to love (, ) – This slang phrase is a literal abbreviation of the Chinese phrase "too tired to fall in love anymore." It originated from an article on the Douban website posted by a 13-year-old boy who grumbled about his single status and expressed his weariness and frustration towards romantic love. The article went viral, and the phrase was subsequently used as a sarcastic way to convey depression when encountering misfortunes or setbacks in life.
* Overly confident male (, ) – Chinese feminists use this term to describe arrogant males.
* White complexion, rich, and beautiful (, ) – Female equivalent of '. The ideal girlfriend or wife.
* Get rid of single status (, or , in Taiwan) – No longer single, as if changing relationship status on social media. In Taiwan, means no longer a loser (, ) the Taiwanese equivalent of as relationship status is one of the success indicators.
* Go to surf (, ) – To hang out
* Setting a goal (flag, ) – Setting a goal to achieve; can also be setting a goal and will fail to achieve it due to circumstances.
* X - Human has freedom of sexual preference, but I advise you to see a doctor.
* -P (, )- A toxic fanbase of something.

Neologisms

* 50 Cent Party (, ) – Internet users paid by the government or the Communist Party to post comments.
* US Penny Party (, ) – Internet users paid by foreign governments or parties to post comments.
* Little fresh meat (, ) – Young, cute, handsome male idol, of around 12 to 25 years old. Originally used for stars, now used more generally by extension
* Lesbian (, ) – from (pinyin: ), meaning to hold hands.
* Loser (, ) – " Diaosi" is used to describe young men born into a poor family and are unable to change the circumstances of their poverty. People usually use this phrase in an ironic and self-deprecating way. For example, someone might say "I am a diaosi" with a sigh when they see wealthy people with private cars and luxurious houses. The origin of this slang is unknown, but it is widely used today on the internet, and can be said to reflect that many people feel upset and discontented as they fail to change their lives no matter how much effort they have put in.
* Goddess (, ) – Used to describe phenomenal beauties. Everyday beauties would usually not get this attached to their name or how they are described.
* Masculine woman (, ) – The phrase literally means "female man", and refers to women who possess traditionally masculine personality traits such as being brave and more independent. They eschew makeup or do not like go shopping. Some repair electrical appliances. More importantly, these women do not have any boyfriends. The emergence of this type of women reflects the increasing social and economic status of women.
* OK (, ) – OK, no problem, etc.
* You understand ... (, ) – "I don't need to go on about this because you already understand."
* Act cute (, ) – To purposefully pretend to be cute. Usually used by people jokingly when posting selfies or asking for things from others.
* Sounds pretty awesome without any understanding (, ) – Refers to any situation where something sounds awesome even though you know nothing about it.
* Nothing to say (, ) – A way to gently express frustrations with someone or something that is completely unreasonable and unacceptable
* Feel the body become empty (, ) – Feeling very tired because of something. This slang comes from an advertisement for a health supplement.
* Amazing (, ) – Used on someone is doing something amazing. Always used with "my bro".
* My bro (, ) – Sign with emotion when something surprising happens.
* Whatever floats your boat () – Literally means "you're happy and that's OK". Usually used to make fun of friends who are in a bad situation, for instance, failing an exam.
* Angry or not? (?) – Basically "You mad, bro?", usually used in competitive video games.
* I don't know () – "" in Mandarin, pronounced "" in Cantonese, meaning "don't know" or "no idea".
* The one to be blamed (, ) – Internet slang for people who usually take responsibilities for others' faults (, )
* Takeover guy (, ) – Initially a stock market term, referring to purchasing stocks that are sold by market makers. Also an internet slang for people who are forced to receive something (i.e. stocks, child) without prior knowledge, or who takes a woman of easy virtue who has been dumped by other men as his partner.
* Pure love warrior (, , sometimes written as ) – The term to refer people who believes in pure, unconditional love and unable to accept any forms of betrayal or lost all grip on reality in a romantic relationship.
* Single dog (, ) – The term that single people in China use to poke fun at themselves for being single.
* Slash youth (, ) – Slash here means having multiple identities or careers. Youth refers to young people, usually from the twenties to thirties. It is used by young people to reflect the multiple part-time jobs/hobbies they undertake.
* Buddha-like mindset () is a term used by Chinese youth to describe people who reject the rat race in favour of a tranquil, apathetic life. The term has been applied to numerous areas such as parenting, employment, online shopping, fans, and relationships. For Buddha-like parenting, the adherents say that "there are not that many kids who will really amount to much, so why give them an exhausting childhood?"
* Baizuo (白左, báizuǒ, literally "white left") – a derogatory Chinese neologism used to refer to Western liberals and leftists and to their values, especially in relation to refugee issues and social problems.
* Yi Yan Ding Zhen (一眼丁真, yìyǎndīngzhēn) – a variant of (, ), literally "one eye true", a sarcastic way of saying (, ), literally "one eye fake", meaning one can "know it's fake at a glance". Ding Zhen has become popular in China because of his appearance, and it has caused debates on whether simply having a pair of "innocent eyes" should earn a person such fame and success. Therefore, some critics of Ding Zhen on Tieba use the word "Yiyan Zhen" to make sarcastic remarks about Ding Zhen. Combining him with "Yiyan Zhen" gives rise to the meme "Yiyan Ding Zhen".
* Professional Team (专业团队, zhuānyè tuánduì) – referring to the Dancing Pallbearers. Often mentioned when someone is dying.
* Empress Ruyan (, rú yān dàdì) – A monicker to the usage of the name Liu Ruyan (柳如烟), a common name often used by female protagonists or antagonists in Internet novels. Due to overusage of the name and her massive appearence in Internet novels and dramas, netizens conferred the title "Empress" (大帝), mocking her plot where she married, divorced, betrayed, broke up with various male protagonists.

With altered meanings

* Chinese aunt (, ) – This phrase refers to middle-aged Chinese women who purchase large amounts of gold. On April 15, 2013, Wall Street traders decided to sell large amounts of gold which caused a substantial fall in gold prices. However, a swarm of Chinese ''dama'' (middle-aged women) bought the gold and therefore raised the world gold price significantly. Three hundred tons of gold were moved instantly in the markets which shocked many economists. While this can be said to reflect the overall improvement of living standards in China, it has also been criticized as a blind way to invest.
* Vulgar tycoon (, ) – Refers to irritating online game players who buy large amounts of game weapons in order to be glorified by others. Starting from late 2013, the meaning has changed and is now widely used to describe the nouveau riche in China (people who are wealthy but less cultured).
* Weird (, ) – Literally a "heavy taste, interest or hobby" such as in horror films, pornography, heavy metal music, extreme sports or the similar
* Excuse me?! (, ) – Literally means "black man question marks". Many Chinese people use this slang when they react to something ridiculous or are confused. It comes from a popular meme of an NBA basketball player Nick Young with a confused expression and six question marks.
* Spare tire (, ) – Refers to the person who is reserved for relationship; a backup
* Big aunt (, ) – A woman's period
* The Eight Trigrams (, ) – To gossip
* Womanizer (, ) – lit. "scum male", a man who is a womanizer
* Goblin (, ) - Refers to a person who is ugly, poor and short, as goblins are mythical characters that share most of the traits with a loser. See: 矮丑矬
* Cute (, ) – original meaning is "heal". Nowadays, it is used as an adjective to describe something as cute or heartwarming.
* Run (, ) – originally "profitable" or "to moisten or lubricate", now a term that expresses the desire to smoothly escape one's current country of residence.
* Forward! (, ) – Originally means "commanding someone to come forward", usually from one's place in a military formation, or on parade, now a sarcasm toward athletes who had lost to an underdog, as if they are being called to come forward from a POW Camp.
* Kill yourself (, ) – lit. "restart". Originally a term from Mobile Legends for players to respawn upon being killed, now used as a term suggesting to end their lives if they are unsatisfied with their life, usually with hints of "resetting" their lives.
* Rice (米, mǐ) — From a Cantonese phrase 有米(Jyutping: jau5 mai5) , which originally means rich. Due to its relatedness with money, it is often used as an algospeak of the noun 錢.

Puns

* Chinese Baptism (, ) – The new Chinese government. Baptism (, ) is a play on words referring to Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.
* River crab (, ) – Pun on () meaning "harmony". Online Chinese term for Internet censorship commonly seen in forums and blogs.
* Flattering (or deceptive) photograph (, ) – Pun on (, ) meaning "photograph". Internet slang for photos that use many filters or have otherwise been heavily altered with software like Meitu to make the subject appear more attractive than they are in real life. Used especially to describe such photos used in online dating profiles.
* Let's do it (, ) – Used as a verb, it means "come on, let's do it!" It is a homophonic expression of the word "" () where has been replaced with as it looks cuter.
* Western herding dog (, ) – A pun of (,), literally "herding dog". Online Chinese term to refer those who held pro-western views. See US Penny Party above.
* Western Sea (西海, xīhǎi) – Lit. " Western Sea", one of the Four Seas. Pun on the Nazi German phrase Sieg Heil.
* Moral and Artistic Governance (德艺治, Déyìzhì), – A pun on (德意志, Déyìzhì), the Chinese name for Germany, it is also an abbreviation of (德语、艺术、政治) German language, Arts, and Politics. Usually involve connotations of Adolf Hitler, due to his artist career and political background.
* Online Depression (网抑云, Wǎngyì yún) – A pun of the music application NetEase Cloud (网易云, Wǎngyì yún). Referring to a phenomena where users leave pessimistic and emotional comments on streaming musics, especially if the music is emotional in nature. Certain users then leave positive comments to counter the phenomena, which is known as Online Healing (网愈云, ).
* Jimei (集美, Jíměi) – Lit. Jimei District, Xiamen. A mispronunciation of the word sisters (姐妹) after being popularized by a Kwai user.

Borrowings

From English

* Gay (, or gay) – Bent (pinyin: ), the opposite of (pinyin: ), ''straight''. GAY, in all upper case like other Chinese internal slang taken directly from English, is also used, but only for men.
* Oh, crap (, , sometimes abbreviated as BBQ了) – From the term ''Barbercue'', it refers that something which it's over.
* N continuous jumps (, ) – A reference to the Foxconn suicides, in which several Foxconn employees jumped to their deaths from the factories' high-rise dormitory buildings in early 2010. The mathematical variable ''n'' is a nod to the high rate of these deaths in early 2010, more than one per week at times. The phrase can be said to reflect the despair some people feel under the current economic conditions in China.
* Straight (, ) – Heterosexual, used only for men. Also refers to men who are dull or inconsiderate in a romantic relationship.
* Cool (), Chinese slang directly from English, pinyin “kù”

From Japanese

* 3P – Threesome, as in the pornographic kind
* CP – Movie couple from Japan, e.g. " Pitt and Jolie were a CP in the Smith movie."
* Little cute girl (, loli) – women who are as short as a little girl (between about 4'8"/1.42 m and 5'4"/1.62 m).
* OL – office lady, a woman with an office job.
* Otaku (male, , ) – Men with obsessive interests that leave no time for normal life outside the home, similar to geek or nerd in English.
* Otaku (female, , ) – Female equivalent of ,

Criticism

The ''People's Daily'' coined the term "vulgar Internet language" to refer the Internet language that "offends the moral" and suggested a blacklist to discourage the usage of them.

See also

* List of Internet phenomena in China
* Mandarin Chinese profanity
*Cantonese internet slang
** Cantonese profanity

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Chinese culture
Chinese slang
Internet slang