Learning slang phrases is an extremely important part of learning a language. Chinese slang is often extremely creative and can give a great insight into culture. To me, there’s nothing more disrespectful than when the only words somebody knows in a language are vulgar expletives that they use whenever the circumstance arises. However, using ‘clean’ slang phrases undoubtedly shines you in a good light to your hosts as it shows you have a deeper understanding than the average ‘textbook learner’. Following our recent Chinese Online Slang blog post, we thought we’d take ourselves offline and come up with a list of the most popular Chinese slang phrases in use now.

Feel free to contact us with more suggestions and we will happily add them to the list!

· 你造么？ nǐ zào me？ (台湾腔Taiwanese Accent) – You know that?

例：A : 我很喜欢你，你造么？

B : 你踩我脚了，你造么？

· 小鲜肉 ：xiǎo xiān ròu Literal: Young, fresh meat In context: young, beautiful man

例：这次参加比赛的选手都是小鲜肉，太惹人喜欢了。

· 颜值 yán zhí (颜值极高 yán zhí jí gāo) a lot of beautiful women in one one place e.g. on a TV show

例：武则天是一部颜值很高的电视剧，太养眼了。

· 整个人都不好了 zhěng gè rén dōu bù hǎo le Don’t feel well after hear a hearing unpleasant news/witnessing an unpleasant scene etc. (I have goose flesh)

例 ： 一大早就听到这周末要上班的消息，整个人都不好了。

· 也是蛮拼的 yě shì mán pīn de Literal: Can’t afford to take a look at it. In context: Desperate to reach the goal.

例 ：玩个游戏而已，你这么废寝忘食，也是蛮拼的。

· 安静地做个美男子 ān jìng de zuò gè měi nán zǐ “I just wanna be a lady-killer out here quietly.”

例 ：这些事情太复杂了，我不想管了，只想安静地做个美男子。

· 友尽 yǒu jìn (友谊走到了尽头 yǒu yì zǒu dào le jìn tóu) Our friendship has ended (used for joking with your friends when they make fun of you or do something that you do not agree with)

例 ：你居然给我拍得这么丑，友尽了！

We will keep adding to this list over time so please feel free to send us more suggestions! There are lots of regional slang phrases as well so let us know about the latest Chinese slang (流行语) wherever you’re studying!

User contributions:

蠢货 chǔn huò a cute way to say someone is stupid

卖萌 mài méng To act cute

逗比 dòu bǐ Someone who likes to joke a lot and likes to act stupid/clumsy