Mandarin_Chinese_profanity

Mandarin Chinese profanity

Profanity used within the Mandarin Chinese language

Profanity in Mandarin Chinese most commonly involves sexual references and scorn of the object's ancestors, especially their mother. Other Mandarin insults accuse people of not being human. Compared to English, scatological and blasphemous references are less often used. In this article, unless otherwise noted, the traditional character will follow its simplified form if it is different.

Sex

Insults

As in English, a vulgar word for the sexual act is used in insults and expletives:

cào (肏) = fuck (the variant character 肏 was in use as early as the Ming dynasty in the novel Jin Ping Mei). 操 is often used as a substitute for 肏 in print or on the computer, because 肏 was until recently often not available for typesetting or input.
cào nǐ zǔzōng shíbā dài (肏你祖宗十八代) = "Fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation"; the cào 肏, in modern Standard Chinese, is often substituted with 肏; the cào 肏 (fuck) has been substituted for 抄, which meant "confiscate all the property of someone and of his entire extended family." In China, ancestor worship is an important aspect of society, as a result of Confucianism, where filial piety and respect for one's ancestors is considered crucial; insulting one's ancestors is a sensitive issue and is generally confronting.

Racial euphemisms

Mandarin Chinese has specific terms and racial euphemisms for different ethno-racial groups around the world, and some discriminatory slurs against Chinese representatives from certain governments and backgrounds.

Against Mainlanders

zhīnà (支那) — A derogatory term for China (see Shina). It used to be a neutral historic name for China, but later it became a derogatory since it was extensively used by Japanese Invader during Sino-Japanese Wars.
zhīnàzhū (支那猪) — "Shina pigs", see zhīnà (支那). Mostly used by anti-China diaspora Chinese, Taiwanese and Hongkongers.
ālùzaǐ (阿陆仔) — Mainlander, a word originated from Southern Min language. A slang term used by Taiwanese people. The word itself is largely neutral, but it was often used in a negative context.
sǐālù/426 (死阿陆/426) — An alternation of ālùzaǐ (阿陆仔), literally means "dead Mainlanders". It is often written as 426, as in Southern Min the word sounds similar to 426. The slang is widely used by anti-China Taiwanese people online.
huángchóng (蝗虫) — Literally "Locust" or "Insect." The term is mainly used by Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, and Chinese Singaporeans and directed at mainland Chinese immigrants and tourists because they come in large numbers and supposedly end up consuming local resources at the expense of the host native populations.

Against other East Asians

Against Japanese

Demonstrators in Taiwan host signs telling "Japanese devils" to "get out" of the Diaoyutai Islands following an escalation in disputes in 2012.

xiǎo Rìběn (小日本) "Japs" — Literally "little Japan[ese]". This term is still commonly used as a slur toward Japanese among Chinese but it has very little impact left. This term was historically by the Chinese associating the Japanese with dwarfism and the historical lower average stature of Japanese in comparison with the Han Chinese.
Rìběn guǐzi (日本鬼子) — Literally "Japanese devil". 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.
dōngyáng guǐzi (Chinese: 東洋鬼子) — Literally "Oriental devil". An anti-Japanese variant of yáng guǐzi, and similar to Rìběn guǐzi above. (Note that whereas the term 東洋 has the literal meaning of "Orient" in the Japanese language, the characters themselves mean "eastern ocean", and it refers to Japan exclusively in modern Chinese usage—since Japan is the country which lies in the ocean east of China.)
Wō (倭) — 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).
Wōkòu (倭寇) — 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.
Rìběn gǒu (日本狗) — Literally "Japanese dogs". The word is used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
dà Jiǎopén zú (大腳盆族) — Ethnic slur towards Japanese used predominantly by Northern Chinese, mainly those from the city of Tianjin. Literally "big-feet-like-washbasins race", also punning on the English "Japan".
huáng jūn (Chinese: 黃軍) — a pun on the homophone "皇軍" (huáng jūn, literally "Imperial Army"), the definition of 黃 (huáng) used is "yellow". This phrase 黃軍 ("Yellow Army") was used during World War II to represent Japanese soldiers due to the colour of their uniform. Today, it is used negatively against all Japanese. Since the stereotype of Japanese soldiers is 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), 黃軍 is also often used to pull jokes on Chinese people with these characteristics, and thus "appear like" Japanese soldiers.
zì wèi duì (Chinese: 自慰隊) — A pun on the homophone "自衛隊" (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 "自衛隊") being stereotypically hypersexual, as "自慰队" means "Self-comforting Forces", referring to masturbation. The word 慰 (wèi) also carries highly negative connotations of "慰安婦" (wèi ān fù, "Comfort women"), referring to the use of sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II.
wěi jūn (伪军）- Literally "pretender army." The word is used as an insult to collaborationist Chinese forces during World War II, but is occasionally used to refer to Japanese forces as well. It is used officially by Chinese historians, and is specifically spoken towards those people, making it a rare and ineffective insult against Japanese people in general.

Against Southeast Asians

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). The words listed below are generally not regarded as being profane. Duànxiù (Chinese: 斷袖) — cut off sleeve, from the story of a ruler whose male favourite 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). An analogous story, of a sleeve being cut off so as not to disturb a sleeping cat, is told of both Confucius and Muhammad, and perhaps others.

Yútáo (Chinese: 餘桃) — remains of a peach, from the story of a favourite 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), literally "glass", but implies "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 comes off as an effeminate slur when referring to men. 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 (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."

Tóngzhì (同志; lit. 'comrade') was recently adopted in Hong Kong and Taiwan to mean homosexual, and is sometimes used on the mainland. Literally the term means "one having same aspirations".

Tùzi (兔子), used to refer to catamites (lit. rabbit). (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 (Chinese: 斷背, lit. "Brokeback") has also become popular.

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Mandarin_Chinese_profanity, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

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Mandarin_Chinese_profanity

Sex

Penis

Vagina

Brothel frequenter

Prostitution

Mistress

Breasts

Anus

Masturbation

Foreplay

Sexual intercourse

Insults

Mother

Other relatives

Turtles and eggs

Illegitimacy

Suck up

Disability

Buttocks

Age

Promiscuity

Positive connotations

Mixed-up

Eggs

Melons

Sticks

Ghosts and spirits

Useless

Boasting

Cruelty

Face

Girlish

Boyish

Inhuman

Death

Excrement

Animals

Dogs

Rabbits

Horse

Bird

Tigress

Dinosaur

Insect

Contempt

Divinity

Miscellaneous

Action specific

Region specific

Racial euphemisms

Against Mainlanders

Against Mainland Communists

Against Westerners

Against other East Asians

Against Hong Kongers

Against Taiwanese

Against Japanese

Against Koreans

Against South Asians

Against Indians

Against Southeast Asians

Against Filipinos

Against Indonesians

Against Vietnamese

Other

Homosexuality

See also

References

Footnotes

Sources and further reading

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