Part of learning a new language is all about

understanding its culture, and Chinese is no

exception.
So its pretty obvious that
understanding Chinese slang is essential to
understanding the language as a whole. It can
also help deepen your knowledge of characters
and their meanings. Plus, its quite fun.

Were going to make an assumption here and

say you spend the majority of your time online. If
youre navigating through Weibo or Wechat for
example, not knowing even some Chinese slang
can get you very lost. Words and phrases are
changing fast just because some things go viral
that fast.

We dont want you scratching your head in

confusion, so weve compiled a list of more
popular Chinese slang for you. As always, if you
come across any new ones not listed, please let
us know!

 (shng m)
Literally meaning holy mother (referring to the Virgin Mary), online it refers to people as
saints. These are people who come across as being holier-than-thou, usually criticizing
others. You typically use to talk about people who ruin all the fun, like a party
pooper.

(w b sh L Gng)
Translated, it means My dad is Li Gang. The phrase refers to an incident in October
2010 where Li Qiming was driving his girlfriend while drunk. He hit two roller skating girls
driving through Hebei University. One of them died later. Li was stopped by witnesses
as he was trying to leave the campus and challenged people to sue him by saying
!
People use this phrase online as a joke to say they dont need to adhere to any laws
because they have government connections.

(n hn zi)
often describes a manly woman who has some or all of the following traits: tough,
independent, informal, open, forthright, fiery, less feminine, the ability to take
responsibility and not caring about her appearance. The closest phrase you might be
familiar with is tomboy or manly woman.
If you look online, there is a lot of evidence that shows many women are proud to wear
the label.

 (pn zi)
Meaning sprayer, used a slang it talks about people who are flamers, people who
constantly complain, bash or hate on others online.

(bi f mi)
Literally meaning white, rich, and beautiful, it has become a popular internet expression
which talks about an ideal woman. People usually refer to a womans complexion,
overall appearance and wealth when describing the ideal girlfriend or wife. The male
equivalent is tall, rich and handsome ().

(go f shui)
Literally meaning tall, rich, and handsome, it has become a popular internet expression
which refers to an ideal boyfriend or husband. The opposite phrase is short, ugly, and
poor ().

(i chu qing)
Another popular expression meaning short, ugly, and poor, it refers to a man who is not
an ideal boyfriend or husband in Chinese society. In other words, someone who is not
tall, handsome, and rich ().

(shng dush)
Literally meaning 'leftover warriors, the expression is used to refer to single ladies who
have not been able to find a husband yet.

(nn shn)
is used to describe a man who is charming and attractive, but usually unattainable.
It can also be used to describe the perfect man. Theres now a list online featuring 50
ideal traits for a man to have. If your man matches 30 of the 50, hes definitely husband
material!

(gn di)
Literally meaning "godfather, used as slang it means sugar daddy.

(xn si)
The full phrase is (xn j gng s), but many people use shortened version .
This phrase literally means heart attack, and is often used to describe an extremely
painful or negative feeling. The character has two meanings and two pronunciations.
The first meaning that can be seen in (heart attack) is to stop up and uses the
pinyin s. When the original is shorted to , the pronunciation of
becomes si. Doing so makes the phrase less serious.

 (shn zhi)
If you like to shop online (or anywhere else actually), pay attention to this phrase. While
it really means mountain village, it is now commonly used to refer to cheap, copied or
fake merchandise.

(gun shu)
This phrase literally means to pour water Online, it refers to someone who constantly
talks or posts internet replies. Basically, someone who cant keep anything in their mouth,
it keeps coming out.

(t ho)
This term has been used for a long time, which historically refers to powerful people, or
known as a local tyrant. It resurfaced in 2013 meaning the nouveau riche, basically
people who love to flaunt their money. Local tyrant was first used online to describe the
release of the gold Apple iPhone 5s as (local tyrant gold), suggesting that it
would appeal to wealthy people who want to show off. Now people use it to refer to
people who have money but lack taste, meaning they are showy and even arrogant
because of their newfound wealth.