Action Specific
Some expressions represent offensive insults involving some kind of actions:
gǔnkāi (simplified Chinese: 滚开; traditional Chinese: 滾開) = go to hell! (lit. roll or roll over)
nǐgěiwǒgǔn (simplified Chinese: 你给我滚; traditional Chinese: 你給我滾) = get out of my sight!
gǔndàn (滚蛋) = scram, get out!
[edit] Region specific
Many locations within China have their own local slang, which is scarcely used elsewhere.
gàn nǐ xiǎo BK de (干你小BK的) - Local slang from Tianjin, meaning "go fuck your 'thing'", where "BK" refers to male genitalia. However, when insulting females, "马B" is used instead.
xiǎo yàng le ba (小样了吧) - Originating from Southern China. Said upon someone's misfortunes, similar to "haha" or "suck that".
shén me niǎo (simplified Chinese: 什么鸟; traditional Chinese: 什麼鳥) - From the northeastern Heilongjiang, although also used in the South. Used similar to "what the fuck?"
fage (发格) - Used in Shanghai, direct transliteration from English "fuck".
èrbǎdāo (二把刀) - Beijing slang for a good-for-nothing; klutz. Literally "double-ended sword", considered a concept which is useless.
xiǎomì (小蜜) - Beijing slang for a special female friend, often used with negative connotations.
cènà (册那) - Shanghainese for "fuck", similar in usage to 肏 cào albeit less strong.[8]
[edit] Racism
Chinese has specific terms and racial slurs for different ethnicities, governments and backgrounds.
[edit] Against westerners
yáng guǐzi (Chinese: 洋鬼子) "Foreign devil", a slur for White people
guǐlǎo (Chinese: 鬼佬) Borrowed from Cantonese "Gweilo", "ghost" or "ghost guy", a slur for white people
hóng máo guǐzi (simplified Chinese: 红毛鬼子; traditional Chinese: 紅毛鬼子) "Red fur devil", rude slang term for Caucasians, especially Anglos
máo zi (Chinese: 毛子) Ethnic slur against Russians. (Literally "fur".) Alternatively 红毛子 (hóng máo zi, red (communist) fur), 俄毛子 (é máo zi, Rus fur). Similar concept to "hóng máo guǐzi" above.
lǎo wài (Chinese: 老外) "foreigner", literally "old outsider", slang term for Caucasians in Mainland China, especially Anglos. Since this term is quite often used colloquially without malicious intent (even directly to foreigners proficient in Mandarin), its meaning is highly context specific. As a rough guide, however, it's best to avoid using the term outside China.
mán zi (simplified Chinese: 蛮子; traditional Chinese: 蠻子) means foreign barbarians
lǎo mò - "Old Mexican", an ethnic slur used on Mexicans. 墨 should not be confused with "ink", which bears the same character and pronunciation from "墨" in 墨西哥 (Mexico).
[edit] Against Japanese
xiǎo Rìběn (小日本)="Japs" — Literally "little Japan"(ese). This term is so common that it has very little impact left (Google Search returns 16 100 000 results as of April 2010 [9]). The term can be used to refer to either Japan or individual Japanese. "小", or the word "little", is usually construed as "puny", "lowly" or "small country", but not "spunky".
日本鬼子 (Rìběn guǐzi) — Literally "Japanese devils". This is used mostly in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when Japan invaded and occupied large areas of China. This is the title of a Japanese documentary on Japanese war crimes during WWII.
倭 (Wō) — This was an ancient Chinese name for Japan, but was also adopted by the Japanese. Today, its usage in Chinese is usually intended to give a negative connotation (see Wōkòu below). The character is said to also mean "dwarf", although that meaning was not apparent when the name was first used. See Wa (Japan).
倭寇 (Wōkòu) — Originally referred to Japanese pirates and armed sea merchants who raided the Chinese coastline during the Ming Dynasty (see Wokou). The term was adopted during the Second Sino-Japanese War to refer to invading Japanese forces, (similarly to Germans being called Huns). The word is today sometimes used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
日本狗 (Rìběn gǒu, Cantonese: Yat Boon Gau) — Literally "Japanese dogs". The word is used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
大腳盆族 (dà jiǎo pén zú) - Ethnic slur towards Japanese used predominantly by Northern Chinese, mainly those from the city of Tianjin. Literally "Big Feet Bowl Race".
simplified Chinese: 黄军; traditional Chinese: 黃軍 (huáng jūn) - a pun on the homophone "皇军/皇軍" (huáng jūn, literally "Imperial Army"), the definition of 黃 (huáng) used is "yellow". This phrase 黄军/黃軍 ("Yellow Army") was used during World War II to represent Japanese soldiers due to the colour of the uniform. Today, it is used negatively against all Japanese. Since the stereotype of Japanese soldiers are commonly portrayed in war-related TV series in China as short men, with a toothbrush moustache (and sometimes round glasses, in the case of higher ranks), 黄军/黃軍 is also often used to pull jokes on Chinese people with these characteristics, and thus "appear like" Japanese soldiers.
simplified Chinese: 自慰队; traditional Chinese: 自慰隊 (zì wèi duì) - A pun on the homophone "自卫队" (zì wèi duì, literally "Self-Defence Forces"), the definition of 慰 (wèi) used is "to comfort". This phrase is used to refer to Japanese (whose military force is known as "自卫队") being stereotypically hypersexual, as "自慰队" means "Self-comforting Forces", referring to masturbation. The word 慰 (wèi) also carries highly negative connotations of "慰安妇/慰安婦" (wèi ān fù, "Comfort women"), referring to the use of sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II.
[edit] Against Koreans
高丽棒子 (Gāolì bàng zǐ) - Derogatory term used against all ethnic Koreans. 高丽 (Traditional: 高麗) refers to Ancient Korea (Koryo), while 棒子 means "club" or "corncob", referring to how Koreans would fit into trousers of the Ancient Koryo design. Sometimes 韓棒子 (hán bàng zǐ, "韓" referring to South Korea) is also used.
死棒子 (sǐ bàng zǐ) - Literally "dead club" or "dead corncob"; refer to 高丽棒子 above.
二鬼子 (èr guǐ zǐ) - (See 日本鬼子) During World War II, 二鬼子 referred to hanjian and Koreans in the Imperial Japanese Army, as the Japanese were known as "鬼子" (devils). 二鬼子 literally means "second devils". Today, 二鬼子 is used against all ethnic Koreans. This is also due to Koreans being similar in appearance to Japanese, and many Chinese believing that Koreans are copying Japanese culture.
[edit] Against communists
共匪 (gòngfei) - Literally "Communist Bandits" referring to communists, or to a larger extend, all Mainlanders. The term has been in use since the Chinese Civil War by the Kuomintang against the Chinese Communist Party, however today reflects the rifts in cross-strait relations.
阿共仔 (ā gòng zǐ) - Literally "Commie guy", a derogatory slang term used by Taiwanese against mainland Chinese, which refers to communism as an ad hominem.[10]
共產黨 (gongchandang) - Official, academic and commonly-used Chinese translation for communist parties. In Taiwan it is considered a shame to be a communist. A Taiwanese legislator was charged with public defamation for calling a protester "gongchandang".[11]
[edit] Other
印度阿三 (Yìndù ā sān) - Ethnic slur against Indians. "A" is a vocative, and "san" is three, so "a san" means the third son or third child in a family. So Indians are assigned third-class status by this location.
阿差 (ā chā) - Similar to the above, this ethnic slur is common among the Cantonese speaking crowd especially those from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. The term alludes to the frequent uttering of ācchā 'good, fine' by (Northern) Indians (cf. Hindi अच्छा) Originally referring to the Punjabi "singhs" security force who used to work for the British government during colonial era. Nowadays all Indians are indiscriminately called "ā chā".
台巴子 (tái bāzi) - Slur originating from the city of Shanghai, 台巴子 refers to Taiwanese, especially advocates of Taiwan independence. "Bazi" can mean a clitoris or (in baby-talk) a "wee-wee" (the penis of a little boy).
老黑 (lǎo hēi) - Literally "Old Black", Anti-African racial slur.
黑鬼子 (hēi guǐzi) - Literally "Black devil", Anti-African/black people slur similar to nigger.
黑鬼 (hēi guǐ) - Same as 黑鬼子.
印泥巴 or 印尼巴 (both yìn ní ba) - a play on "印尼" (Indonesia) and "泥巴" (mud), where 尼/泥 are homophones, thus paralleling Indonesians with dirtiness.
香蕉人 (xiāngjiāo rén) - 'Banana People' - Ethnic Chinese living overseas who have lost any true Chinese trait. They are like bananas: Yellow (Chinese) on the outside while white (western) on the inside.
[edit] Homosexuality
There are various circumlocutions in Mandarin Chinese for homosexual, and the formal terms are recent additions just as is the direct translation of "masturbation" (hand soiling).
Duànxiù (simplified Chinese: 断袖; traditional Chinese: 斷袖)-- cut off sleeve, from the story of a ruler whose male favorite fell asleep on the sleeve of his jacket, so when the ruler had to get up to conduct some needed business he cut his sleeve off rather than awaken his lover. (See Bret Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleeve, p. 53.)
Yútáo (simplified Chinese: 余桃; traditional Chinese: 餘桃)-- remains of a peach, from the story of a favorite who rather too familiarly offered his sovereign a peach of which he had already eaten half. (From Han Fei Zi, chapter 12)
Bōlí (玻璃, glass)-- lit., "glass" person. It comes from a passage in the Dream of the Red Chamber in which Phoenix is described as having a "crystal heart in a glass body," meaning that she was glistening, pure, clear, fastidious, etc. It stands as high praise for a lady, but sounds too feminine for a (stereotypical) male. The English translation of Bai Xian-yong's novel about male homosexuals in Taiwan includes the term "crystal boys," derived from the same passage in the earlier novel, and also a rather gruff reference to the old photographer who befriends some of the boys as "you old glass," which, delivered by a female friend of his, comes out sounding about on the level of "you old fart," i.e., not really so very offensive, but indicating a passing mood of aggravation on the speaker's part. Nevertheless, the general meaning is probably closer to "old queer."
Nán fēng (simplified Chinese: 男风; traditional Chinese: 男風, male custom, is homophonous with (南風, southern custom.) The first writing of the term would fairly easily be picked out as referring to sexual interactions, whereas the second term could just mean "the customs of the southern part of China." Perhaps because male sexual arousal is easier to spot where heavy clothing is not worn, or perhaps simply because of the frequent use of this term, homosexuality came to be regarded as more common and accepted in the southern part of China.
Tóngzhì (同志) (lit. "comrade") was recently adopted in Hong Kong and Taiwan to mean homosexual, and is frequently used on the mainland. Literally the term means "one having same aspirations," and was transferred from the arena of political allegiances to the realm of sexual alliances.
Tùzi 兔子 lit., "bunny," but used to refer to catamites. (See Herbert A. Giles, A Chinese-English Dictionary, entry 12,122) See also Tu Er Shen.
Since the success of Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, duànbèi (simplified Chinese: 断背; traditional Chinese: 斷背, lit. "brokeback") has also become popular.
[edit] See also
The Wikibook Chinese has a page on the topic of
Slang
Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures
Cantonese profanity
Diu (Cantonese)
Grass Mud Horse
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
^ 为什么"月经"又叫"大姨妈"? 百度知道
^ 女生习惯说法“大姨妈”的来历 Xinhuanet.com
^ 为什么乳房叫波 Baidu.com
^ 鼈, 鱉, 鳖, and 龞 are all different characters for "turtle".
^ Note: The character 㞎 may not be supported on all browsers. It is a 巴 ba below a 尸 corpse radical, and appears as Ba hkscs.PNG. The character is present in the HKSCS. In the case where the correct character cannot be rendered, the phrase can also be colloqially shown as 屎巴巴 otherwise.
^
http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/72463070.html
^ Chao, Eveline. NIUBI!(2009) pg.13
^ chinaSMACK Glossary: Cena
^ [url]http://www.google.se/search?q=%E5%B0%8F%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE
fficial&client=firefox-a[/url]
^ C. Custer, 12 August 2010, StarCraft 2 in China: “We Gamers Really Suffer”: Prejudice against Mainland gamers, ChinaGeeks
^ 共產黨與羞恥心Invalid language code.
[edit] Sources
教育部顧問室人文社會科學教育改進計劃 E世代的情意教育─網路軟體研發 Invalid language code.
Oedipus Lex: Some Thoughts on Swear Words and the Incest Taboo in China and the West
论"他妈的！"
Cool Jay
國語辭典
Chinese sex words, obscene language, curses and slang
Tianmi.info
Modern Chinese Slang at Thinking Chinese.
