Chinese Slang Dictionary
89 modern Chinese slang terms — internet, Gen-Z, texting and number codes, work, and dating words you'll rarely find in a textbook. Each entry gives pinyin, the real English meaning, usage status, examples, origins, and audio.
Founder of Fluentide · Native Mandarin speaker · Incoming Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University
Updated July 2026
Practise Chinese slang with flashcards
Reading a definition once rarely sticks. Flip through a short round — the word first, then the picture, pinyin, meaning, a real example, and the spoken explainer.
What is Chinese slang?
Chinese slang — 网络流行语 (wǎngluò liúxíngyǔ) — is the living layer of the language that textbooks can't keep up with.
It's how real people talk online and with friends: pinyin acronyms like yyds (永远的神, “the GOAT”), number codes like 666 (“nicely done”), texting shorthand, homophone puns, workplace burnout words like 内卷 (neijuan, the rat race) and 躺平 (tangping, lying flat), dating labels, and ordinary words bent to new meanings.
Each entry shows what the term means, whether people still use it, what register it belongs to, and how it appears in a real sentence — plus a short audio explainer so you know how it sounds.
How Chinese slang is formed
New slang looks random until you see the machinery. Nearly every term in this dictionary is built one of four ways — once you can name the mechanic, you can often guess a word you've never seen.
Trending Chinese slang right now
The terms blowing up in Chinese group chats and comment sections this season.
Browse Chinese slang by category
Chinese Internet Slang
36 terms
Pinyin acronyms, number codes, and meme words from Weibo, Bilibili, and Douyin — yyds, 666, xswl.
Chinese Gen-Z Slang
19 terms
Cutesy, ironic, fast-changing words young people actually type — 绝绝子, 尊嘟假嘟, i人.
Chinese Work & Burnout Slang
9 terms
How young China talks about the grind — 内卷 (neijuan), 躺平 (tangping), 摸鱼 (moyu), 摆烂 (bailan).
Everyday Chinese Slang
19 terms
The casual expressions that fill normal conversation and make you sound less like a textbook.
Chinese Dating Slang
6 terms
Labels for crushes, players, and relationship status — 海王, 舔狗, CPDD.
All 89 Chinese slang terms
Search by characters, pinyin (with or without tones), or the English meaning — try yyds, neijuan, or lying flat.
89 terms · page 1 of 4
红温
hóng wēn
going red / tilted / losing it
班味
bān wèi
soul-crushed office look / work has drained me
i人
i rén
an introvert / the MBTI I-type
显眼包
xiǎn yǎn bāo
the show-off / class clown / a whole spectacle
搭子
dā zi
an activity buddy / a [meal/gym] partner
抽象
chōu xiàng
unhinged / chaotic / cursed (but funny)
活人感
huó rén gǎn
feels like an actual person / unfiltered and real
谷子
gǔ zi
anime merch / fan goods
主理人
zhǔ lǐ rén
the 'founder' / self-important small-biz owner
邪修
xié xiū
a cursed life-hack / the unorthodox method
当个事儿办
dàng ge shìr bàn
actually take it seriously
已读乱回
yǐ dú luàn huí
read it and replied with nonsense
我嘞个豆
wǒ lei ge dòu
oh my god / wow
淡人
dàn rén
a chill, unbothered person
外耗
wài hào
making it someone else's problem
痛包
tòng bāo
ita bag / merch bag
吧唧
bā jī
pin badge
松弛感
sōng chí gǎn
effortless ease
古希腊掌管……的神
gǔ xī là zhǎng guǎn … de shén
the patron saint of …
俺不中嘞
ǎn bù zhòng le
I can't take it
浓人
nóng rén
an intense, high-energy person
活人微死
huó rén wēi sǐ
dead inside but still showing up
误闯天家
wù chuǎng tiān jiā
I wandered into somewhere way too fancy
……基础，……就不基础
… jī chǔ, … jiù bù jī chǔ
keep one half plain, let the other pop
The method in practice
Hear how real Chinese actually sounds
Slang is just the surface of how people really talk. Fluentide's free podcast episodes give you natural, spoken Chinese at your level — with full transcripts, pinyin, and translations — so the casual, real-world language starts to feel familiar.
Chinese Slang FAQ
Keep building your Chinese
Slang is the fun edge of the language, but it sits on top of ordinary vocabulary and grammar. These pages build the base underneath it.
Chinese Vocabulary
The everyday words underneath the slang, pulled from real podcast episodes with pinyin and audio.
Chinese Grammar by HSK level
Slang bends grammar you already know — see the patterns it's bending, explained in English.
How comprehensible input works
Why hearing language you mostly understand beats memorising word lists.
Chinese listening practice
Where you'll actually meet this slang in the wild: natural speech at your level.
Save real-world Chinese
Create a free account to save the real-world Chinese you actually hear
Slang only makes sense when you hear it in natural speech. Register when you want Fluentide to keep real audio, vocab, transcript progress, and the next level-matched episode together.
- Hear slang in natural audio
- Keep vocab and transcript progress
- Continue at your level