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Chinese Slang

Chinese Gen-Z Slang

Chinese Gen-Z slang is the playful, cutesy, often self-deprecating vocabulary of people born after the mid-1990s. It leans on homophones, baby-talk spellings, and inside jokes, and it turns over fast — a word can go from everywhere to cringe within a year.

Haoshan Hong
Haoshan Hong

Founder of Fluentide · Native Mandarin speaker · Incoming Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University

Updated July 2026

What is Chinese Gen-Z Slang?

These are the terms that make you sound like you actually spend time on Xiaohongshu and Douyin rather than in a textbook. Each entry gives the pinyin, the real meaning, a usage-status tag so you know if it is still current, and an example of how it is used.

Chinese Gen-Z Slang terms

浓人 (nóng rén) — The high-energy half of a personality pair: enthusiastic, broad interests, competitive, full of social battery and the urge to share. A vibe label, not a diagnosis.
Trending

浓人

nóng rén

an intense, high-energy person

爱你老己 (ài nǐ lǎo jǐ) — A deliberately garbled way of saying "love yourself". The scrambled wording keeps a sincere sentiment from sounding preachy.
Trending

爱你老己

ài nǐ lǎo jǐ

love yourself (said goofily)

水灵灵地 (shuǐ líng líng de) — A meme adverb that makes whatever follows sound vivid and worth noticing — "and there I was, just ___ing". Sticks to anything, ordinary or absurd.
Trending

水灵灵地

shuǐ líng líng de

just straight-up (with flourish)

红温 (hóng wēn) — Going red in the face from anger, embarrassment, or losing your cool — your 'temperature' visibly spikes.
Trending

红温

hóng wēn

going red / tilted / losing it

不嘻嘻 (bù xī xī) — The moment the mood flips. Usually said as a pair: something good, 嘻嘻; then the catch, 不嘻嘻. 吃了一顿大餐，嘻嘻；上完体重秤，不嘻嘻.
Trending

不嘻嘻

bù xī xī

not funny / I'm not laughing

i人 (i rén) — An introvert, from the MBTI 'I' type; the opposite is e人 (extrovert). Used loosely for anyone shy or drained by socializing.
Trending

i人

i rén

an introvert / the MBTI I-type

偷感 (tōu gǎn) — The careful, keep-your-head-down way of doing something when you would rather nobody watched. It is not an accusation — 偷感 is about enjoying the safety of going unnoticed, not about guilt.
Trending

偷感

tōu gǎn

sneaky, like-you-might-get-caught energy

淡人 (dàn rén) — The low-key half of the pair: light on emotion, ambition and socialising, hard to rattle. Worth knowing it is not the same as 社恐 — a 淡人 is not anxious, just genuinely unbothered either way.
Trending

淡人

dàn rén

a chill, unbothered person

痛包 (tòng bāo) — An ita bag — a bag covered in badges and character merch, usually behind a clear window. The "pain" is how visually overwhelming it is, and the otaku self-mockery of loving something that openly.
Trending

痛包

tòng bāo

ita bag / merch bag

吧唧 (bā jī) — A pin badge, especially character merchandise. Traded, displayed on a 痛包, and collected in the same ecosystem as 谷子.
Trending

吧唧

bā jī

pin badge

谷子 (gǔ zi) — Anime / game / idol merch — badges, figures, cards. A phonetic spelling of "goods". Buying it is 吃谷 ("eating grain").
Trending

谷子

gǔ zi

anime merch / fan goods

破防 (pò fáng) — To have your emotional guard shattered — something hits so hard you tear up or lose composure. Can be sad or deeply moved.
Classic

破防

pò fáng

it broke me / right in the feels

乙游 (yǐ yóu) — An otome or dating-simulation game aimed primarily at women, where you romance a cast of characters. A mainstream fandom category, not a niche.
Classic

乙游

乙女游戏yǐ yóu

otome game

emo (ī mōu (English loan)) — Feeling suddenly down, moody, or melancholic — often late at night for no clear reason. Used as a verb: 我 emo 了.
Declining

emo

ī mōu (English loan)

feeling down / in my feels

集美 (jí měi) — A cutesy way to address your girlfriends — "sis", "ladies". A misspelling of 姐妹 that now reads as dated.
Outdated

集美

jí měi

sis / besties (dated)

尊嘟假嘟 (zūn dū jiǎ dū) — A baby-voice respelling of 真的假的 ("seriously?!"). Deliberately mushy and cute — now mostly seen as saccharine.
Outdated

尊嘟假嘟

zūn dū jiǎ dū

weally? fow weal?? (babyish 'seriously?')

栓Q (shuān Q) — "Thank you" — almost always sarcastic or exasperated, meaning something left you speechless or fed up.
Cringe

栓Q

shuān Q

thanks, I hate it / I'm so done

绝绝子 (jué jué zǐ) — An over-the-top "amazing!" (or, sarcastically, "awful"). The 子 baby-talk suffix is now widely mocked.
Cringe

绝绝子

jué jué zǐ

iconic / a disaster (and a bit cringe either way)

awsl (ā wǒ sǐ le) — An overwhelmed reaction to something unbearably cute — "I can't, I'm dying". Typed as the acronym awsl.
Cringe

awsl

啊我死了ā wǒ sǐ le

I'm dead / too cute, I can't

Browse other slang categories

Chinese Internet Slang

Pinyin acronyms, number codes, and meme words from Weibo, Bilibili, and Douyin — yyds, 666, xswl.

Chinese Work & Burnout Slang

How young China talks about the grind — 内卷 (neijuan), 躺平 (tangping), 摸鱼 (moyu), 摆烂 (bailan).

Everyday Chinese Slang

The casual expressions that fill normal conversation and make you sound less like a textbook.

Chinese Dating Slang

Labels for crushes, players, and relationship status — 海王, 舔狗, CPDD.

See the full Chinese Slang Dictionary →

Chinese Gen-Z Slang FAQ

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