Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Sexy & Dirty Chinese Words [NSFW]

Posted in China, Language, Sex by Elliott Back on November 5th, 2006. [Del.icio.us]

One of the things you want to know when learning a language is all the bad words and phrases. Besides knowing how to come on to someone, or swear really well, learning what a culture uses to express its strongest, most vehement word-forms can tell you a lot. That’s where this handy list in Swedish, Chinese, and English comes in.

For summary’s sake, here are the most useful terms:

  • 性 xìng = sex
  • 性生活 xìngshēnghuó = sex life
  • 肏 cào = to f*ck (vulgar)
  • 打炮 dă pāo = have intercourse
  • 老屄 lăobī = old hag (vulgar)
  • 牛屄 niúbī = really phat, way beyond cool (vulgar)
  • 艺妓 yìjì = geisha

There are also a huge number of words to describe prostitutes, various parts of intercourse, STDs, and other such things.

However, when you look at some of the etymologies, barring things which are simply put together piecemeal in the expected way (性生活 being 性 + 生活), you can derive a more interesting cultural view. For example, 肏 is 入 + 肉, literally to enter meat, from which we learn that sex in China is defined by the language as a male-dominating act. This isn’t unexpected, but it’s interesting how language ties into culture, especially in these taboo waters.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 5th, 2006 at 12:20 am and is tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

4 Responses to 'Sexy & Dirty Chinese Words [NSFW]'

  1. fiLi said:

    on November 11th, 2006 at 2:32 am

    Heh, cool :D

  2. HJ said:

    on January 25th, 2007 at 2:10 am

    You’re missing the first character in the 6th word — it should read 牛屄 (literally, cow’s vagina)

  3. Elliott Back said:

    on January 25th, 2007 at 8:03 am

    You’re so right–oops!

  4. Chris said:

    on January 16th, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    Hello:

    I am actually looking for Mandarin ( Putonghua ) Chinese words, as well in Chinese characters ( Hanzi ) as in pinyin ( to know how to pronunciate ) and of course the English translation. Words I want to know are : asshole ; cunt ; bimbo [ good to know to call to my wife ( she’s from Shanghai, and she will not tell me these words ) when have arguements :-D ] ; f**ck you ( up yours ) ; fock off.
    Thanks in advance,
    Chris.

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