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Glossary of Common Chinese Slangs, Gaming and ACGN Terms

You can find a list of the most commonly used Chinese Slangs, Gaming Terms, ACGN (Anime, Comics/Manga, Games, Novels) Terms, and other Miscellaneous Terms used in Chinese novels.

Please be reminded that the literal translations are just what they are, “literal translation”. They are by no means the correct translations.

Created by Selutu and Frozen.
Updated by Silva.


Japanese Slangs
Term Literal Translation Meaning
ドキュン DQN / Dokyun Pronounced “dokyun,” it is a derogatory internet slang term that spread from 2ch.net, a Japanese BBS. It mostly means dumbass or idiot, but it can also be used to refer to delinquents and violent, rough, uncultured, uneducated, socially inferior people. Though it used to be just 2channel slang, the term enjoys more widespread use now, and is even used on some English-language discussion boards.
Chinese Slangs
Term Literal Translation Meaning
美眉 / MM Beautiful Eyebrows The term originated from a Taiwanese tv drama, in which an actor’s accent caused his pronunciation of 妹妹 (little sister) to sound like 美眉. The term has then grown to mean a pretty girl.
恐龙(妹) Dinosaur An ugly girl/woman
蛋疼 Egg hurt It’s the feeling you get when you feel very frustrated/annoyed/really pissed off about something (just like when your balls hurt).
卖萌 Act moe I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.
屌丝 Male pubic hair The original meaning of the term would be a ‘plebeian’. However, it is not often used as a slang for losers as well.
卧槽/我操/我艹/我靠/我擦 I f̲u̲c̲k̲ (your mom) Originating from “我肏你妈”, which translates to “I f̲u̲c̲k̲ your mom”, the origin phrase essentially means “f̲u̲c̲k̲ you”. On the other hand, when used by itself it just means “f̲u̲c̲k̲”. The reason this is used is merely to prevent censorship of 我肏.
次奥 Taken the pinyin of 操 (ciao), it is another way of saying “f̲u̲c̲k̲”.
尼玛 尼玛 as the same pronunciation as 你妈 (your mom). It’s meaning is the same as the previous as being a short form of “I f̲u̲c̲k̲ your mom”. Since 你妈 is often censored, this is used instead.
你妹 Your sister Short for “我操你妹” i.e. I f̲u̲c̲k̲ your sister. It has essentially the same meaning as “f̲u̲c̲k̲ you”.
意淫/YY Although the term originated from “Dream of the Red Chamber”, it has long since lost its original meaning. The current meaning is “fantasizing”, but it often also has a sexual undertone linked to it.
跪了 Kneeled It expresses the feeling one has when they would kneel, often when admitting a person is truly powerful; or to show admiration. At the same time, it can also be a way of saying that the person is unable to express the speechlessness. 跪了is roughly the Chinese equivalent of “orz”.
毁三观 Ruin three views The 三观 (three views) refers to “world view”, “view of life” and “view of value”. 毁三观 is basically used to describe those people or situation that goes against those views.
躺枪/躺着也中枪 Laying gun / Getting shot even when lying down The phrase originated from a famous line in the movie “Fight Back to School”, where a random soldier accidentally shot towards the floor, hitting a person that was pretending to be dead on the floor. It is used to express a person’s speechlessness / helplessness when they are uninvolved/innocent/retaining a low profile already. A typical example would be three friends are talking, Friend A and Friend B are insulting each other, then all of a sudden, Friend C got insulted by Friend A out of nowhere.
土豪 It refers to those filthy rich people that don’t think about spending and doesn’t have much taste.
坑爹 Pit dad This is a term that’s very hard to actually express in English. It can be used to describe when a person/situation screws someone over. A situation -when this is used is when there is a group of people playing a team-based game, but one person just keeps screwing the team over. In that situation, the team would describe him as坑爹 (Keng Die).
高富帅 Tall Rich Handsome Rather self-explanatory, it is a term to describe a man that’s tall, rich and handsome.
白富美 White Rich Beautiful Rather self-explanatory, it is a term used to describe a woman that has a light skin tone, rich and beautiful
基友 Gay friend Although it can be used literally, as a slang word, it just describes two close male friends.
打酱油 Hitting Soy Sauce It roughly translates to “passing by” or is used as a term to describe casual players in sports, games etc.
神马 Divine horse 神马 is the slang what of saying 什么 (what)
虾米 Dried Shrimp 虾米is the slang what of saying 什么 (what), it originated from the Hokkien pronunciation什么.
太监了 Eunuched It is a slang way to describe things that didn’t end. E.g. a web novel that the author dropped could be described as太监了
重口味 Heavy taste hardcore
御宅族 / 宅男 Otaku The former term means “Otaku”, while the latter term specifically refers to a male otaku.
霉女 Mold girl It is slang for referring to a female otaku.
候住 Taken from the word “hold”, 候住 means “hold it”.
It is a slang way of referring to “me”.
熟女 Mature woman
露肉 Revealing meat It means “revealing” as in revealing your body. So a revealing piece of clothing would be 露肉装, and if someone is revealing a lot of skin, they would be doing the process of 露肉.
败家 Defeat home A person that just waste away the family’s money without care.
打炮 / 打飞机 Hit cannon / Hit the Plane Male masturbation
撸管 Rub the Pipe Male masturbation
啪啪 Pa pa It originates from the sound of two people’s body colliding during sex. It just means having sex.
特麼 / TM His Mother 特麼 has the same pronunciation as 他妈, a Chinese slang that literally means f̲u̲c̲k̲ you.
草泥马 Grass Mud Horse The Grass Mud Horse or Cǎonímǎ (草泥马) is a Chinese Internet meme widely used as a euphemism for the cursing phrase cào nǐ mā (肏你妈). It is a wordplay on the Mandarin words cào nǐ mā (肏你妈), literally, “f̲u̲c̲k̲ your mother”, and is one of the 10 mythical creatures created in a hoax article on Baidu Baike in early 2009 whose names form obscene puns. It has become an Internet chat forum cult phenomenon in China and has garnered worldwide press attention, with videos, cartoons, and merchandise of the animal (which is said to resemble the alpaca), having appeared.
撩阴腿 Basically, it means “kick the t̲e̲s̲t̲i̲c̲l̲e̲”.
弓虽女干 R̲a̲p̲e̲ The original word is 强奸, which means r̲a̲p̲e̲. It is separated into four Chinese Characters in order to avoid censorship.
车仑女干 G̲a̲n̲g̲b̲a̲n̲g̲ The original word is 轮奸, which means g̲a̲n̲g̲b̲a̲n̲g̲. It is separated into four Chinese Characters in order to avoid censorship.
打起十二分精神 Raise up your spirit to twelve grades A Cantonese saying which basically means to concentrate/focus.
罗刹族人 Rakshasa Clan This is what “Russian” is known as a few centuries ago.
丹田 Dantian Dantian, dan t’ian, dan tien or tan t’ien is loosely translated as “elixir field”, “sea of qi”, or simply “energy center”. Dantian are the “qi focus flow centers”, important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as t’ai chi ch’uan, and in traditional Chinese medicine.
识海 Energy Core Also known as Sea of Consciousness.
魯蛇 Foolish Snake A loan word for: Loser
B-站 B-site Bilibili (simplified Chinese: 哔哩哔哩), also nicknamed B Site (Chinese: B站), is a Chinese video sharing website based in Shanghai
3P T̲h̲r̲e̲e̲s̲o̲m̲e̲ 3P means t̲h̲r̲e̲e̲s̲o̲m̲e̲, ie three person. 4P means f̲o̲u̲r̲s̲o̲m̲e̲. N basically means an undefined large number. So, NP到死 means g̲a̲n̲g̲b̲a̲n̲g̲e̲d̲ to death. Metaphorically rather than literally death.
6的不行 Top Quality 6 is slang for being 一流 or the best
装13 Flexing 装13 = 装B = 装逼 = to act like a pretentious prick
七七四十九 7749 There are many variant of this, such as 5525, 7749, 8864, and 9981, but all of them has one thing in common, the last two numbers are the multiplication of the first two. Writing out the times table is a common Chinese idiom to emphasize the last two numbers.

Gaming Terms
Term Literal Translation Meaning and Origins
上单 Solo Top It is a MOBA term.
中单 Solo Mid It is a MOBA term.
打野 Jungle It is a MOBA term.
辅助 Support
W冲 Suicidal Charge You don’t even try to bob and weave, you just go straight forward, as though you were just pressing W-movement on a keyboard.
喷Z Shotgun Short for 喷子, which is slang for shotguns 散弹枪 in PUBG.
菜鸡 / 菜鸟 Vegetable Bird / Chicken It’s a slang for ‘newbie’ in games, a target that’s very easy to pick off in fps etc.
非洲人 African Originating from KanColle, it is the term referring to a very unlucky person
亚洲人 Asian Originating from KanColle, it is the term referring to a person with average luck.
欧洲人 / 欧神 European Originating from KanColle, it is the term referring to a very lucky person. Can be translated as lucksack.
坦克/肉盾 Tank / Meat Shield Someone who ‘tanks’ for the team, i.e. takes all the damage
风筝 Kite Same as the literal meaning, it refers to the act of ‘kiting’
爆头 Headshot
666 / 6 666 / 6 It is used to describe a person doing something very cool. For example, if Person A did something very cool, Person B would say, “666.” Or “You are so 6.”
晒晒 Show show Show off
金手指 Gold Finger A gaming slang that refers to “cheats”.
自动挂机 AFK Grinding The act of grinding automatically while the player is “away from keyboard”.
内测 Closed Beta A testing arrangement in which a beta test version of software is distributed to a small group of testers.
肉搏 Close Combat Fight hand-to-hand / engage in melee.
刷怪 Sweep Mob Typically used to refer to “grinding”.
缠斗 Hit and Run A hit and run strategy in close-range.
菜刀队 Glass Cannon Party A party that consist of high attack low defense classes.
关底翻牌 Bonus Round Is a game mechanism in many moba games, where after players cleared a level, they will be given a chance to flip 3-5 hidden cards. The cards contain rare skins, heroes, and other things. Typical example would be overwatch, league of legends, or honour of king.

ACGN Terms
Terms (Literal) Translation Meaning
元气 Genki Energetic/cheerful person.
腐女 Fujoshi (rotten girl) Japanese term for girls who are fans of BL novels, manga, etc.
Moe (new sprouts appearing from the ground) On the contrary, to what Moe originally meant, it turned into a slang for describing one’s emotional affections towards a 2D character. (games, novels, manga, etc)
御姐 Onee-san Older sister character type.
女王 Queen Dominating character
正太 Shota Little boy.
萝莉 Loli Little girl.
乙女 Otome Young maiden.
中二病 Chuunibyou 8th grader syndrome. Time period when person (usually around 14yrs old) is under the delusions that world spins around them (they are the greatest, main characters of the world. Etc). Usually used in anime for characters thinking they have superpowers.
天然呆 Tennen Boke (Natural Airhead) A person that naturally acts clueless/stupid/unaware
秀吉 Hideyoshi Hideyoshi is a term for a character that is “neither male nor female” in other words, characters who are hard to categorize as either purely a boy or a girl.

Anyone with characteristics like that of Hideyoshi Kinoshita from Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu.

傲娇 Tsundere Character who is acting cold (tsuntsun) on the outside while being lovestuck (deredere) inside.
病娇 Yandere (sickly lovestuck) Character who would use any violent means to be with his/her lover.
黑化 Blacken Originating from Fate / Stay Night, when Saber gets transformed into Saber Alter. This basically describes someone that has drastically changed or “fallen”.

Literally, it means when a character undergoes a sudden “dark/sinister” change.

腹黑 Haraguro Someone who has an evil inside, but often acts kind and innocent in appearance
毒舌 Dokuzetsu A poison tongued person.
猫耳娘 Nekomimi Girl Cat ear girl
兔耳娘 Usagimimi girl Rabbit ear girl
鬼畜 Demon Demonic/Savage personality.
幼驯染 Osananajimi Childhood friend
(爆发)小宇宙 Cosmos Reference to Saint Seiya’s Cosmos power-up.
纳尼 Nani Japanese term for “what”
伪娘  Fake girl / Tomgirl Trap/crossdressing character that could be mistaken for a girl.
KUSO Kuso Japanese slang for swearing “damn, ****, etc”
口癖 Speech habit Kuchiguse in Japanese is used for a word (or sometimes a phrase) that a person uses often in a conversations. (eg: Nya, Nano desu, Dattebayo)
残念 Zannen Regrets/bad luck.
-con -complex
百合 Girl’s Love Yuri action
死库水 Sukumizu School swimsuit
工口 Ero ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
绝对领域 Absolute Territory The space between girl’s knee socks and skirt.
杀必死 Service 2D fan service.
达令 Darling Referring to a character with Darling.
卖肉 Selling meat Fan service.
赛高 Saikou Referring to something or someone as “best/supreme/highest level”
推倒 Push down Push down in a sexual way
暴走 Boso Running wild/rampaging character.
吐槽 Retort / Tsukkomi Tsukkomi – retort or in other words, “playing a straight man”.
(收到)好人卡 Good person card / Rejected More specifically, it’s getting rejected with something along the lines of “You’re a good person, but we can’t be together.”
软妹(子) Soft sister A girl that’s kind and easy to push around, while also having a good personality
本命 Honmei (Favorite) The most popular character(s) in a series. (best waifu/husbando)
布鲁马 Bloomer
-君 -kun Honorific mostly used by seniors addressing to juniors, or among male friends.

Although, it’s usually used for men, it’s not a strict rule.

-酱 -chan A honorific usually used with children or people who you are close to.
无路赛 Urusai
Literally means “annoying, Noisy”.
JP for “Shut up!”
(满头)黑线 Black lines A show of speechlessness.
欧尼桑 onii-san Japanese slang for big brother.
欧内桑 onee-san Japanese slang for big sister.
一抹多 Imouto Japanese loanword for younger sister.
兽人 Demi-human Depicts humanoid creature such as elves, dwarves, beastmen, etc.
猪头人 Orc Literally: Pig-headed man. A demihuman or monsters with pig features, especially their head.
兽人 Beastman A demihuman with animal features, such as beast ears or tail.
魔兽 Magic Beast Magically enhanced beasts that are commonly seen in fantasy world.
阴阳师 Onmyoji Onmyōji were specialists in magic and divination. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and were instrumental in the moving of capitals. It is said that an onmyōji could also summon and control shikigami.
式神 Shikigami Shikigami (式神, also read as Shiki-no-kami, 式の神) is the term for a being from Japanese folklore. It is thought to be some sort of kami, represented by a small ghost. The belief of shikigami originates from Onmyōdō.
烏帽子 / 乌帽 Eboshi Cap 烏帽子 (hiragana えぼし, rōmaji eboshi) A type of black-lacquered court cap originating during the Heian period, previously worn only by men of a particular social status, and now worn in certain Shinto ceremonies and by gyoji presiding over sumo matches
和钢 Alloy A metal made by combining two or more metallic elements, especially to give greater strength or resistance to corrosion.
御币 Gohei Gohei (御幣), onbe (御幣), or heisoku (幣束) are wooden wands, decorated with two shide (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals.
巫女 Miko In Shinto, a miko (巫女) is a shrine maiden or a supplementary priestess. Miko were once likely seen as a shaman but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily shrine life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance.
和服 Kimono Traditional national clothing.
浴衣 Yukata Literally translates to bathrobe.
忍术 Ninjutsu Sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term ninpō, is the strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare and espionage purportedly practiced by the ninja
异世界 Otherworld Isekai, Parallel World, etc.
兜裆布 Fundoshi Fundoshi (褌, ふんどし) is the traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II, the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males. However it fell out of use quickly after the war with the introduction of new underwear to the Japanese market, such as briefs and boxer briefs.

Nowadays, the fundoshi is mainly used not as underwear but as festival (matsuri) clothing at Hadaka Matsuri or, sometimes, as swimwear.”

石翁 Stone Carvings Sekibutsu 石仏

Stone Carvings of Buddhist Deities
Courtesy of JAANUS (excellent dictionary of Buddhist concepts). Sekibutsu literally means “Stone Buddha.” A Buddhist image made in rock or stone. The term sekizou 石造 or “”carving from stone”” was used to indicate the material of a sculptured work. Sekibutsu were divided broadly into two groups”

争夷大将军 / 征夷大将軍 Shogun The Shōgun (将軍, Japanese: [ɕoːɡɯɴ] (About this soundlisten); English: /ˈʃoʊɡʌn/ SHOH-gun) was the military dictator of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shōguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura period shōguns were themselves figureheads. The office of shōgun was in practice hereditary, though over the course of the history of Japan several different clans held the position. Shōgun is the short form of Sei-i Taishōgun (征夷大将軍, “Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians”), a high military title from the Heian period. When Minamoto no Yoritomo gained political ascendency over Japan in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first shōgun in the usually understood sense.
太政大臣 Chancellor The Daijō-daijin or Dajō-daijin (太政大臣, “Chancellor of the Realm”) was the head of the Daijō-kan (Great Council of State) during and after the Nara period and briefly under the Meiji Constitution. Equivalent to the Chinese Taishi (太師) (Grand Preceptor).
中纳言 Middle Counselor Chūnagon (中納言) was a counselor of the second rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates from the 7th century.

The role was eliminated from the Imperial hierarchy in 701, but it was re-established in 705. This advisory position remained a part of the Imperial court from the 8th century until the Meiji period in the 19th century.”

狩衣 Hunting Robe Also called kariginu in Japan, a traditional hunting robe worn by nobles during the Heian period.
皮铁 Skin Steel It is harder but relatively less tough, would be made into the outer layer of the sword.
心铁 Core Steel This is relatively soft, but very tough and elastic, serves as the inner core of the sword.
刀茎 Tang A tang or shank is the back portion of the blade component of a tool where it extends into stock material or connects to a handle. The craftsman usually engrave their name on the tang of the blade.
百鬼夜行 Night Parade of One Hundred Demons Hyakki Yagyō, variation: Hyakki Yakō, (百鬼夜行, “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons”) is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to an uncontrolled horde of countless numbers of supernatural creatures known as oni and yōkai. As a terrifying eruption of the supernatural world into our own, it is similar (though not precisely equivalent) to the concept of pandemonium in English.
彼岸 Higanbana flower The Japanese common name Higanbana (彼岸花, Higan bana) for Lycoris radiata literally means “flower of higan (the other shore of Sanzu River, or a Buddist holiday around the autumnal equinox)”. In Japan the red spider lily signals the arrival of fall. Another popular Japanese name for Lycoris radiata is Manjushage (曼珠沙華, Manjusha-ge or Manjusha-ke), taken from the name of a mythical flower described in Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra. It is called by over 1000 other local names in Japan.
豪族 Prominent Clan Gōzoku (豪族, lit. “prominent clan”) is a Japanese term used to refer to powerful and wealthy families. In historical context, it usually refers to local samurai clans with significant local land holdings. Some were almost locally independent, and held strong ties to important commoners such as wealthy merchants. Unlike the vassal samurai of the greater lords, gozōku may or may not have held court rank or served directly under a liege. They tended to be financially secure and, if under a liege, less dependent upon him for income.
绳文 Rope-patterned The Jōmon pottery (縄文土器, Jōmon doki) is a type of ancient earthenware pottery which was made during the Jōmon period in Japan. The term “Jōmon” (縄文) means “rope-patterned” in Japanese, describing the patterns that are pressed into the clay.
武士 Samurai First rank a Swordsman receives after passing the basic test.
剑豪 Kengo Sword Master
剑圣 Kensei Sword Saint
下忍 Genin First rank a ninja receives after passing the basic test.
中忍 Chunin Chūnin (中忍, Literally meaning: Middle Ninja, Meaning (Viz): Journeyman Ninja) are ninja who have reached a level of maturity and ability that primarily consists of leadership skills and tactical prowess.
上忍 Jonin Jonin (上忍, Jōnin, Literally meaning: High Ninja, Meaning (Viz): Elite Ninja) are generally highly experienced and highly skilled shinobi who serve as military captains.
玉钢 Tamahagane “Tamahagane (玉鋼) is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word tama means “”round and precious””, like a gem. The word hagane means “”steel””. Tamahagane is used to make Japanese swords, knives, and other kinds of tools.

The carbon content of the majority of analyzed japanese sword historically lies between 0.5~0.7 mass%, however the range extends up to 1.5%.”

和歌 Waka Waka (和歌, “Japanese poem”) is a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature. Although waka in modern Japanese is written as 和歌, in the past it was also written as 倭歌 (see Wa (Japan)), and a variant name is yamato-uta (大和歌).
马猴烧酒 Mahou Shoujo Japanese loanword for Magical Girl.

Moe Characteristics
Terms Translation Meaning
萝莉 Loli
御姐 Onee-san
粉发 Pink hair
黑长直 Straight black hair
双马尾 Twintails
螺旋卷 Drill hair Character with drill/spring-like curly hair.
姬发式 Hime cut Hime Cut is a hairstyle consisting of straight, usually cheek-length sidelocks and frontal fringe.
呆毛 Ahoge Lit. Stupid hair. That single standing lock of hair on characters. (like araragi from bakemonogatari)
灼眼 Burning-eye(s) Characters with Red/crimson eyes.
双色瞳 Heterochromic eyes Person with different eye colors.
眼镜娘 Meganekko Lit. Glasses girl/Girl with glasses.
虎牙 Tiger teeth Cute Little Fangs peeking out from mouth.
兽耳 Kemonomimi Beast ears
贫乳 Flat chest
巨乳 Huge breasts
爆乳 Explosive breasts
仆娘 Bokukko
傲娇 Tsundere
病娇 Yandere
天然呆 Tennen Boke Natural airhead.
三无
女王 Queen
天然黑 Tennen guro Lit. Natural Guro. Being a Haraguro while not aware of themselves/enthusiastic about it.
软妹(子)
元气 Genki
无铁炮 Muteppo Hot-headed/rash character.
冒失女 Rash girl
电波女 Denpa Onna (electrowave Girl) Denpa is a Japanese term for individuals who are disconnected or dissociated from the people around them.
黑化 Blacken
腹黑 Haraguro
毒舌 Dokuzetsu / Poisonous tongue Person with Harsh/Abusive language.
中二病 Chuunibyou / Eight-grader syndrome
痴女 Chijo Female pervert.
圣母 Saint
人妻 Married woman
吃货 Glutton.
阿卡林 Akarin
弱气 Yowaki Weak willed character.
丧女 Mojo Unpopular woman/girl (with boys).
阴气 Inki Gloomy/Dark aura.
大和抚子 Yamato Nadeshiko Japanese term for “ideal woman” or “woman who displays the charms of old japan)
柴刀女 Machete girl
电锯女 Electric saw girl
兵器娘 Weapon girl

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