Niubi! The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School

Emoticons and expressions

颜文字 yán wénzì (yen when dz)

Emoticon. Literally “face character.”

凸

In normal written Chinese, this is the character 凸 tū (too), meaning “convex.” It is frequently used on the Internet as an emoticon, however, because it looks like a hand giving the middle finger.

Orz

Meant to look like a person kneeling on the ground, on hands and knees, with head bowed-the O is the person’s head, r is the arm and torso, and z is the bent leg. Used to express shock, hopelessness, frustration, despondence, or, more positively, respect or awe-basically any emotion that might be suggested by a kneeling figure.

A few variations (among many) include:

szQ (Orz kneeling in the opposite direction and licking the floor)

Oroz (Orz with a fat stomach)

囧

An emoticon indicating sadness, frustration, shock, or amusement. The character 囧 jiǒng (jyohng-the o sound is long), which dates back to ancient times, originally meant “bright” but has taken on this new meaning because it looks like a sad face (or a shocked or amused face, depending on your interpretation). “Jiǒng culture” has taken off as a full-fledged fad that has spilled over into real life-the character can even be found on T-shirts, bags, and other accessories.

A few variations (of many) include:

商 (jiǒng wearing a bamboo hat) d 囧 b (jiǒng with a thumbs-up on either side of its face, from a Pepsi marketing campaign called “Love China”)

囧rz (Orz combined with jiǒng, so that the kneeling person has a jiǒng face)

槑 meí (may)

Stupefied, shocked. This obscure character dates back to ancient times and means “plum.” It is made of two characters for 呆 dāi (die) next to each other, and since 呆 alone can mean something like “dumb” or “astounded” or “foolish,” having two next to each other doubles the degree.

雷 leí (lay)

Literally “thunder.” Used to indicate shock or surprise or outrage (or any emotion that might be represented by the image of someone being thunderstruck). Moreover, on both the Internet and in real life 雷人 léirén (lay ren), literally “thunder person,” has come to mean “outrageous” or “shocking” or “absurd.” One especially common expression is 太雷人了 tài léirén le (tie lay ren luh), meaning “too outrageous” or “that’s so stupid” or “that’s insane.”

汗 hàn (hahn)

Means “sweat” and is used, usually in reply, to indicate feeling embarrassed or dumbfounded (that is, an emotion that makes you sweat).

泪 lèi (lay)

Means “tear” or “teardrop” and used online to express sadness or crying.

晕 yūn (een)

Means “dizzy” or “faint” and is often used to express surprise, shock, amusement, or disgust; that is, emotions that might make you feel faint.

我倒 wǒ dǎo (wuh daow)

Literally, “I fall over.” Used the same way as yūn (above).

VoV

Represents a person holding up two peace signs on either side of his or her face.

闪

The character 闪 shǎn (shahn) means “flash” and is used in online chatting to mean “leaving,” as when you leave a chat room-you might say 我闪了 wǒ shǎn le (wuh shahn luh), “I’m leaving”-or “avoid doing something.”