We’re pretty familiar with English slang, like “legit,” “lit,” “RIP,” etc. We even know Tagalog slang words like “petiks,” “charot,” “waley,” and “chibog.” But are you familiar with Chinese slang?
I started looking into this, thinking I’d find things like “ke-po,” “hao-xiao,” “tao-ke” and other words we hear often, but I came across a very interesting genre of Chinese slang where they use numbers to replace words. Remember when 143 was used to say “I love you”? Well, the Chinese just took it to a whole another level.
Here are some Chinese slang to get you started:
520 (wuerling) – It means “I love you” because I guess it sounds like “wo ai ni“? Have you told your parents 520 today?
666 (liuliuliu) – I initially thought it would have something to do with demons, but no. It means “awesome” or “excellent.” I guess demons can be 666, but I don’t know about excellent.
748 (qisiba) – See, now this means “go to hell.” The demons can 748.
484 (sibasi) – “shi bu shi” translates to “yes or no.” Tell me, are you enjoying these so far? 484?
233 (ersansan) – Laugh out loud. I am 233-ing over how I do not understand this one.
995 (jiujiuwu) – Please someone 995, my brain was not made for number slang. If you didn’t get it, 995 means “help me” like jiu jiu wo.
88 (baba) – This is the last one. Wanna take a guess? It means “bye bye”! So the Chinese version of the boy band N*Sync’s hit song was 888. Get it? No? Okay. 88!
Now that you know some Chinese slang, how about having your own secret language on social media? Check out this article.