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Profanity in Mandarin Chinese most commonly involves sexual references and scorn of the object's ancestors, especially their mother. Other Mandarin insults accuse people of not being human. Compared to English, scatological and blasphemous references are less often used. In this article, unless otherwise noted, the traditional character will follow its simplified form if it is different.
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In a 1968 academic study of Chinese pejorative words, more than a third of the 325-term corpus of abusive expressions compare the insulted person with an animal, with the worst curses being "animal" generally, "pig, dog, animal", or "animal in dress", which deny the person of human dignity. [1] The expressions contain metaphorical references to the following domesticated animals: dogs, cows, and chickens (12 or 11 terms each), (8 times), horse (4), cat (3), and duck (2), and one each to sheep, donkey and camel. [2] A variety of wild animals are used in these pejorative terms, and the most common are monkey (7 times) and tiger (5 times), symbolizing ugliness and power respectively. [3]
The Chinese word for bird niǎo (鸟) was pronounced as diǎo in ancient times, which rhymes with 屌 meaning penis or sexual organ. [4] It also sounds the same as "penis" in several Chinese dialects. Thus, bird is often associated with 'fuck', 'penis' or 'nonsense'：
- wǒ niǎo nǐ (我鳥你) = I give a shit about you (Beijing dialect)
- wǒ niǎo tā de (我鳥他的) = I give a shit about him
- niǎo huà (鳥話; 'bird speech') = bullshit, fucking words; nǐ zài jiǎng shénme niǎo huà (你在講什麼鳥話) = What fucking words are you talking about?
- niǎo rén (鳥人; 'bird person') = bastard, asshole. This word commonly appears in Water Margin, a Ming dynasty Classical Chinese Novel.
- niǎo shì (鳥事; 'bird matters') = mere nothing; also guān wǒ niǎo shì (關我鳥事) = I don't care a damn, it means damn all to me
Certain words are used for expressing contempt or strong disapproval:
- qiáobùqǐ (瞧不起) = To look down upon or to hold in contempt. [5]
- cènà (册那) – Shanghainese for "fuck", similar in usage to cào (肏) albeit less strong. [6]
- ā gòng zǐ (阿共仔; ' Commie guy') — a derogatory slang term used by Taiwanese against mainland Chinese, which refers to communism as an ad hominem . [7]
- èr guǐ zǐ ( 二鬼子 ; 'second devils') [8] — (See Riben guizi) During World War II, 二鬼子 referred to traitors among the Han Chinese hanjian and Koreans in the Imperial Japanese Army, as the Japanese were known as "鬼子" (devils) for massacring innocent children and women. Today, 二鬼子 is used to describe ethnic Koreans who had been absorbed into Japan and joined the Japanese Imperial Army. It is rarely used as a slur in recent times.
- Huanna (番仔; hoan-á) – a Hokkien term in literally meaning "foreigner or non-Chinese." Used by most Overseas Chinese to refer generally to indigenous Southeast Asians and Taiwanese Aborigines. In the Philippines, this term is used by Chinese Filipinos towards indigenous Filipinos. [9] In Malaysia, this term is instead used by Chinese Malaysians towards ethnic Malays.
- Yuenán houzǐ (越南猴子; 'Vietnamese monkeys') – A term used by the Han Chinese to derogatorily refer towards Vietnamese by associating them as being uncivilized, barbaric, dirty, primitive, and backward people. This term also alludes to the historical region of Nam Viet (南越), a province that was ruled by the Han dynasty during the First Chinese domination of Vietnam; when mixed with the word "southern barbarian" (南蠻) is also used as an ethnic slur towards the Vietnamese by the Han Chinese. [10]
