55 Bad Words in Chinese 🙅🏽‍♀️ Let’s Learn Chinese!

Ready to learn some things you don’t learn in the classroom?

I strongly believe in the power of full immersion in China and, of course, when you’re learning a language, you don’t just need to learn how to talk about the weather and how to describe your outfit.

You want to learn some Chinese swear words too, right? Come on, be honest!

You also need juicy content that will make you feel like an active listener and speaker… even when the conversation goes too far!

⬇️⬇️⬇️ Test your knowledge of the Chinese Swear Words ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Chinese Swearing || Commonly Used

Chinese Swearing || Stupidity and Insanity

Chinese Swearing || Loose Sexual Morals

Chinese Swearing || Getting into an Argument

FREE QUIZ || Test Yourself in Swearing!

Chinese Swearing || FAQs

Chinese Swear Words || Commonly Used

Here are some Chinese Swear words you’ll hear more than most others!

妈的 (mā de)

This quite simply means sh!t.

他妈的 (tā mā de) 

In a nutshell, this is f*ck*ng sh!t in English!

The literal translation is “his mother’s.” Used day-to-day by most, you’ll hear this, even more so in the big cities.

LEVEL 🆙 – 你他妈的 nǐtāmāde means you sh!t.

Now to LEVEL 🆙 one more – want to break up with someone? I hope not, but if you do…

你他妈的去死吧
nǐ tā mā de qù sǐ ba
You f**king go to hell

According to our Chinese colleagues, this is a fantastic way to break up with someone!! Who knew?

傻屄 (shǎ bī)

Calling someone a “stupid female reproduction system” is a very impolite way to describe a mean or disagreeable person.

Yet, this is one of the most commonly used curse words in China and it can be translated as “stupid c*nt”.

NOTE – If you go to a football match in China, be prepared for thousands of angry Chinese shouting 傻屄 (shǎ bī) when something goes against their side!

If the ref makes a bad call, why not join in yourself!? Might get some approving looks off some fellow angry locals and make a friend or two!!

It’s worth noting that the C-Word which is probably the strongest insult in English, is a little lighter in China, as you’ll see soon, the F-Word holds more weight.

If you like learning funny things about China, you should definitely check out our Chinglish blog too:

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二百五 (Èr bǎi wǔ)

Quite a funny one this. It’s the number 250, but be careful, it has a darker meaning!

Calling someone “250” basically means they are stupid, useless, good for nothing, etc.

You’ll notice in China, the number 250 is avoided at all costs.

No prices will be 250CNY for example. Honestly! Crazy isn’t it?

By simply using the phrase 二百五 (Èr bǎi wǔ) as a foreigner will probably see a few laughs from the locals!

Whilst I’m on the topic of numbers…

肏 (cào)

Quite simply – fcuk!

Commonly used, as in any language.

The character is particularly interesting (and rather crude) if you break it down.

The top part is the word for enter 入, the lower part is the word for meat 肉 – make of that what you will!

肏你妈 (cào nǐ mā)

Not a particularly nice one, but then are any of these?!

This means “f*ck your mother”

Oddly, in English one of the worse insults you can give anyone is uttering the word c*nt, yet in Chinese 傻屄 (shǎ bī) is much lighter than this one.

Call someone a 傻屄 (shǎ bī) and it ain’t nice, but say 肏你妈 (cào nǐ mā), and you could start a riot!

APPROACH WITH CAUTION!!

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贱女人 (jiàn nǚ rén)

This translates to b!tch and should be used with absolute caution.

Caught saying this in the wrong situation, and you could be in quite the situation yourself. Chinese girls can be known to get, let’s say, rather rowdy in public situations!

拍马屁 (pāi mǎ pì)

See the video below for some good real-life usage for this.

拍马屁 means to brown-nose or suck up to someone. The literal translation of patting a horses backside is a rather funny one.

See if you notice this in the workplace with any Chinese colleagues you may have.

Chinese Swear Words || Stupidity and Insanity

When you want to tell someone he’s not the smartest or he’s a little out of his mind it might be useful for you to learn these few expressions …

As you will see, a lot of negative meaning words consist of eggs in Chinese such as:

笨蛋 (bèn dàn)

Being a “stupid egg,” this term is used to call someone a fool, an idiot, a moron etc.

坏蛋 (huài dàn)

Being a “bad egg” This is adjective is usually used to call someone unscrupulous or with reference to a “bad person”.

混蛋 (hún dàn)

Means being a “mixed egg”. As you can probably guess, calling someone a “mixed egg” has something to do with his uncertain origin.

This word is, in fact, is used to call a person who is a b*stard, hoodlum or scoundrel.

傻缺 (shǎquē) / 傻帽儿 (shǎmàor)

Both of these simply mean fool – not the hardest-hitting insults out of all the ones listed here… but still!

变态 (biàn tài)

Pervert.

This word is used both to define someone really suffering from a mental illness, or to someone who has an ambiguous manner and an equivocal attitude.

DID YOU KNOW – You may often hear this as a level of spice at certain restaurants.

As you can imagine biǎn tài lā (which directly translates to pervertedly hot) means the hottest thing you could ask for!

Chinese Swear Words || Loose Sexual Morals

打飞机 (dǎ fēi jī)

Literally translated this means “to hit the aeroplane”.

So how does that relate to a sexual swear word? Think…?

Yep, it means to masturbate! Makes sense now, right?!

小三 (xiǎo sān)

Literally “little three”, it refers to someone who’s being the third person/third wheel in a relationship, another name for a kept woman, mistress.

贱人 (jiàn rén) and 贱货 (jiàn huò)

Both of the expressions include the word 贱 Jiàn “cheap” and they refer to an easy woman or a cheap person. The former is followed by 人 rén “person”, the latter is followed by the word 货 “goods”.

小姐 (xiǎo jiě)

If you are in Taiwan and Hong Kong, you can call a young lady 小姐 “Miss”, but when in Mainland China, it would be better for you to just say “美女” pretty girl, because 小姐 became a synonym for “prostitute”.

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卖豆腐 (mài dòu fu)

This has a funny literal translation that appears to make not much sense!

“Selling tofu” literally! It is used as a euphemism for prostitution.

If you are a veggie or a vegan in China, and you like Tofu, go steady when enquiring at local markets and restaurants!

吃豆腐 (chī dòu fu)

Another Tofu-related swear word? Odd right?!

This literal translation is “eating tofu”

It is used to describe a man who is a pervert.

Be careful when asked by a Chinese friend 你喜欢吃豆腐吗? (Do you like eating Tofu?).

If they are a good/close friend they probably aren’t asking you what you think…!

Note Tofu’s soft and rather bouncy-like texture…

PSST – Want to learn how to read a Chinese menu in minutes?

公共汽车 (gōng gòng qì chē)

As you probably already know, this word means “public bus”, but sometimes it can be used for someone who easily engages in sexual activity regularly, just like the English expression “village bicycle”.

Chinese Swear Words || Arguing

你真二
nǐ zhēn èr
You are really silly!

你真烦人
nǐ zhēn fán rén
You are annoying

你看什么看？
Nǐ kàn shénme kàn
What are you looking at?!

你怎么回事
Nǐ zěnme huí shì
What’s wrong with you?!

没门儿
méi mén r
No way!

没长眼啊
méi zhǎng yǎn a
Are you blind or something?!

你疯了吗？
Nǐ fēngle ma
Are you crazy？

你以为你是谁？
Nǐ yǐwéi nǐ shì shéi
Who do you think you are?!

你以为你在跟谁说话?
Nǐ yǐwéi nǐ zài gēn shéi shuōhuà
Who do you think you’re talking to?!

你的脑子进水啊？
Nǐ de nǎozi jìn shuǐ a
Are you out of your mind??!

你有病啊？
Nǐ yǒu bìng a
Are you nuts?!

瞎鸡巴扯
xiā jī bā chě
You’re talking nonsense

And now it’s time to learn some slightly more stinging statements. Strap in:

别烦我!
Bié fán wǒ
Don’t bother me

关你屁事!
Guān nǐ pì shì
It is none of your goddamned business!

别那样和我说话！
Bié nàyàng hé wǒ shuōhuà
Don’t talk to me like that!

别跟我胡扯!
Bié gēn wǒ húchě
Don’t give me your sh*t

别找借口
bié zhǎo jièkǒu
Don’t give me your excuses!

王八蛋
wángbādàn
Son of a bitch

从我面前消失!
Cóng wǒ miànqián xiāoshī
Get out of my face！

那是你的问题！
Nà shì nǐ de wèntí
That’s your problem!

别再浪费我的时间了！
bié zài làngfèi wǒ de shíjiānle
Don’t waste my time!

我都腻了！
wǒ dū nìle
I’m sick of this!

闭嘴!
Bì zuǐ
Shut up!

Maybe you could also add some kind of insult to add a little bit of extra bite?

你真是一个废物!
Nǐ zhēn shi yīgè fèiwù
You’re just a good-for-nothing bum!

你是个混球!
nǐ shìgè húnqiú
You’re a douchebag!

你真让我恶心!
Nǐ zhēn ràng wǒ ě xīn
You make me sick!

And finally, this is how you put an end to the matter…

我真后悔这辈子遇到你！
Wǒ zhēn hòuhuǐ zhè bèizi yù dào nǐ!
I wish I never met you before!

你会后悔的!
Nǐ huì hòuhuǐ de
You will regret this!

我不愿再见到你!
Wǒ bù yuàn zàijiàn dào nǐ!
I never want to see your face again!

滚开！
Gǔn kāi!
Get lost!

你丫欠揍
nǐyāqiànzòu
You need to be beaten

USEFUL NOTE – see that rather odd-looking character 丫. This is pronounced yā.

Oddly the original meaning for this is b@stard, but nowadays (especially with Beijingers) this is kind of seen as slang.

For example 你丫 (as used above) is virtually the same as 你.

Good to know right!?

要爱，不要战争
Yào ài, bùyào zhànzhēng
Make love, not war!

FREE QUIZ || Test Your Chinese Swear Words

Time to put yourself to the test when it comes to swear words in Chinese! We’ve kindly prepared a quick-fire quiz for you to have a go at.

It’s super simple – choose from the options and get the results emailed to you immediately.

Time's up

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Bad Chinese Words || FAQs