<p>Arh hah, let me tell you the new generation expressions!</p>

<p>『同性恋者』is too formal to address a gay man. I would say it's equivalent to "homosexual".</p>

<p>The popular terms to the concept in Chinese have nothing to do with their original meanings, just as "gay" now has nothing to do with "joyous", but instead, they directly take after English counterparts.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>他显然并非直男。</p></li>
<li><p>Obviously he is not a straight man.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Comment: Now in Chinese net community, the word 直男 is stigmatized by extreme feminists, referring to conservative, male-chauvinistic men. So it's now not a strict equivalence to "straight" in gender preference aspect.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>他看起来给给的。</p></li>
<li><p>He looks like a gay.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Comment: Don't suspect!  It is actually a transliteration of "gay", and it <strong>IS</strong> the most common expression. And for this reason, often it's used unchanged as "gay".</p>

<ul>
<li><p>他看起来gaygay的。</p></li>
<li><p>他一看就是弯的辣～</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Comment: To avoid being seemingly harsh, often we use some tricks to soften the tone to show our innocence and acceptance. As in example, 辣 is a homophonic substitute to 啦, and a cursive ~ conveys (somehow) cute tone.</p>

<ul>
<li>他明显就是基佬。</li>
</ul>

<p>Comment: WARNING! Many homosexual people may feel offended by addressing them 『基佬』. It's derogatory. The etymology of 『基』meaning homosexual related is now hard to determine. Here are two explanations: 1. 基 in Cantonese is pronounced very similar to "gay". 2. In ancient Chinese, 㚻 （ji1）is the character for homosexual practice, which has evolved to 鸡, finally to 基. But whatsoever, 基佬 in Cantonese （as in Mandarin now）is derogatory. However, 基 used alone is not derogatory, as in 『腐眼看人基』.</p>

<p>活学活用，EXAMPLE（轻小说文风）：</p>

<p>我的新同桌似乎是个基佬。自上次座位轮换他与我同桌以后，我上课时常能感受到侧方的异样目光。原本我不是很在意，但偶然投以回视，发现他正奇异地注视着我，那是什么神情？稍有些怯退又探寻的眼神，像是由于实在太过喜欢（？）但又害怕主人发现而盯着鸟笼的橘猫所表露。四目相对，他疾速收回双眼，这次轮到我凝神注目，看他有何动作。果然，不到一分钟，一双黑眸又瞥到我这里，但发现我居然正在看，便泄气地折返。诶呀呀，这也太给了啦！我思忖着自己有什么优点呢？瘦高、匀称、四肢颀长，嗯唔，算是分明的五官吧！此后很久我都不再察觉他偷瞄了，突然稍有不习惯。课正讲到无聊的部分，我不禁端详起同桌来：嗯嗯，头发浓黑茂盛、粗硬，短茬勾勒出圆润的后脑，深颔，嘴唇饱满，隆准……还不错，我想着。至于眼睛嘛……我移动目光向眉眼看去，正接上他深邃的瞳仁——我大吃一惊：“你你你看我干嘛，好好上课啦！”他没有回应，只不过缓缓转动眼珠向我扫射，眉梢轻挑，下巴微抬——“啊，被我发现了～”，他一定是这样想的吧！我感觉皮肤有些干燥，摸一摸脸，居然滚烫！明明，明明是他先的，我有什么紧张的呢！“但他确实还挺好看的……”停停停停！这一句是从脑海哪个角落冒出来的？难不成我要给魂觉醒，从此被掰弯了？我十八年来都是钢铁大直男哎哎哎哎！“哪里有★那么多可爱的女同学，你看上哪一个了？”啊，不要再这样想了！正当脑内挣扎之时，我忽略了右方，浅浅的笑意。</p>

<p>Nah~ I used all four ways to express "gay". May this short paragraph help your own writing!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-12T04:24:20.683Z
Wow! What are some other new generation expressions? I would love to hear about them!
Axel Tong
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-07T21:44:24.113Z
In my experience ~ 's more direct meaning is a sort of wavering voice, but not in a fearful sense. Sorta like musical vibrato
Aaron Liu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T18:04:44.747Z
2020-02-11T18:48:56.657Z
2020-02-11T18:48:56.657Z
Toosky Hierot
<p>hahaha, I understand this question, he must say something like"他看起来非常gay”. Most of the time, people use this word to describe some men really care about their outlook or their lifestyle. Maybe you know the "Gay or Europen", I think it's somehow like that.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-13T08:34:21.287Z
Exactly, we would say someone 很gay if he always cares about their hair or has a good looking body. Most of the time, it is positive and joking.
sfy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T15:13:36.550Z
2020-02-11T15:13:36.550Z
BING
<p>We always say,"你这个人好gay啊".</p>

<p>Also if a man is gay,you can say,"这个人是弯的".</p>

<pre><code>straight  =&gt;  love girl(for boy)
curved  =&gt;  love boy or love girl and boy(for boy).
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-12T02:57:29.973Z
2020-02-12T02:57:29.973Z
jizhihaoSAMA
<p>It can be expressed by Chinese idioms
<BR/><strong>龙阳之好</strong> or <strong>断袖之癖</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T13:40:19.960Z
2020-02-11T13:40:19.960Z
sypicky
<p>As you said “obvious-from-first-glance”, you could probably write it as “他一看就是个同性恋”.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-29T11:41:04.433Z
I went with this one in my writing; my teacher actually laughed a bit.
Becky 李蓓
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T12:45:08.510Z
2020-02-11T12:45:08.510Z
Axel Tong
<p>My current story is about Kong Lin, from her husband's perspective.  Kong Lin has a long-term male friend (among other friends).</p>

<p>I want her husband (straight Chinese guy) to describe him by something along the lines of "he is very gay", an obvious-from-first-glance kind of gay.  (And leaving the reader to infer that her husband does not perceive him as a "threat" to his marriage.)</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: What would a straight Chinese man say to describe another man as "very gay"?</p>

<p>In Chinese, we have <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">同性恋</a> = "same-sex love", but I don't believe it's a simple matter of adding a <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%BE%88" rel="nofollow noreferrer">很</a> before that.  Judging from Baidu search results, <a href="https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E5%BE%88%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">很同性恋</a> doesn't seem to work (nor does <a href="https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E9%9D%9E%E5%B8%B8%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">非常同性恋</a> nor <a href="https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E6%98%8E%E6%98%BE%E7%9A%84%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">明显的同性恋</a>).</p>

<p>On CC-EDICT, there's a bunch of slang (like <a href="http://youdao.com/w/eng/%E5%BC%AF%E7%94%B7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">弯男</a>), but I want to avoid anything offensive or insulting.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T12:48:24.993Z
By "gay from first glance" you really mean "feminine/effeminate"? There are super-macho non-feminine gay men, and you wouldn't really describe them as "gay from first glance" (I don't think I could tell). Consider opening your vocabulary to "feminine" instead.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-11T12:56:49.090Z
At this stage, I've written little about him, so I guess it's possible to go outside the box on this question.  (Thus far:  He's Kong Lin's 同学, he's a hairdresser, and everytime we see him, he has elaborately colored hair.)
Becky 李蓓
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-12T00:55:33.970Z
他看起来非常像同性恋。or 他看着很像同性恋。
dan
<word-choice>
What would a straight Chinese man say to describe another man as "very gay"?
# What would a straight Chinese man say to describe another man as "very gay"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-11)

My current story is about Kong Lin, from her husband's perspective. Kong Lin has a long-term male friend (among other friends).

I want her husband (straight Chinese guy) to describe him by something along the lines of "he is very gay", an obvious-from-first-glance kind of gay. (And leaving the reader to infer that her husband does not perceive him as a "threat" to his marriage.)

**Question**: What would a straight Chinese man say to describe another man as "very gay"?

In Chinese, we have [同性恋](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B) = "same-sex love", but I don't believe it's a simple matter of adding a [很](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%BE%88) before that. Judging from Baidu search results, [很同性恋](https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E5%BE%88%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22) doesn't seem to work (nor does [非常同性恋](https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E9%9D%9E%E5%B8%B8%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22) nor [明显的同性恋](https://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%22%E6%98%8E%E6%98%BE%E7%9A%84%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%22)).

On CC-EDICT, there's a bunch of slang (like [弯男](http://youdao.com/w/eng/%E5%BC%AF%E7%94%B7)), but I want to avoid anything offensive or insulting.

**Tags:** word-choice

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: By "gay from first glance" you really mean "feminine/effeminate"? There are super-macho non-feminine gay men, and you wouldn't really describe them as "gay from first glance" (I don't think I could tell). Consider opening your vocabulary to "feminine" instead.  
> **username_0**: At this stage, I've written little about him, so I guess it's possible to go outside the box on this question.  (Thus far:  He's Kong Lin's 同学, he's a hairdresser, and everytime we see him, he has elaborately colored hair.)  
> **username_2**: 他看起来非常像同性恋。or 他看着很像同性恋。  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-02-11. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

As you said “obvious-from-first-glance”, you could probably write it as “他一看就是个同性恋”.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I went with this one in my writing; my teacher actually laughed a bit.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-02-11. Score: 5

Arh hah, let me tell you the new generation expressions!

『同性恋者』is too formal to address a gay man. I would say it's equivalent to "homosexual".

The popular terms to the concept in Chinese have nothing to do with their original meanings, just as "gay" now has nothing to do with "joyous", but instead, they directly take after English counterparts.

* 他显然并非直男。
* Obviously he is not a straight man.

Comment: Now in Chinese net community, the word 直男 is stigmatized by extreme feminists, referring to conservative, male-chauvinistic men. So it's now not a strict equivalence to "straight" in gender preference aspect.

* 他看起来给给的。
* He looks like a gay.

Comment: Don't suspect! It is actually a transliteration of "gay", and it **IS** the most common expression. And for this reason, often it's used unchanged as "gay".

* 他看起来gaygay的。
* 他一看就是弯的辣～

Comment: To avoid being seemingly harsh, often we use some tricks to soften the tone to show our innocence and acceptance. As in example, 辣 is a homophonic substitute to 啦, and a cursive ~ conveys (somehow) cute tone.

* 他明显就是基佬。

Comment: WARNING! Many homosexual people may feel offended by addressing them 『基佬』. It's derogatory. The etymology of 『基』meaning homosexual related is now hard to determine. Here are two explanations: 1. 基 in Cantonese is pronounced very similar to "gay". 2. In ancient Chinese, 㚻 （ji1）is the character for homosexual practice, which has evolved to 鸡, finally to 基. But whatsoever, 基佬 in Cantonese （as in Mandarin now）is derogatory. However, 基 used alone is not derogatory, as in 『腐眼看人基』.

活学活用，EXAMPLE（轻小说文风）：

我的新同桌似乎是个基佬。自上次座位轮换他与我同桌以后，我上课时常能感受到侧方的异样目光。原本我不是很在意，但偶然投以回视，发现他正奇异地注视着我，那是什么神情？稍有些怯退又探寻的眼神，像是由于实在太过喜欢（？）但又害怕主人发现而盯着鸟笼的橘猫所表露。四目相对，他疾速收回双眼，这次轮到我凝神注目，看他有何动作。果然，不到一分钟，一双黑眸又瞥到我这里，但发现我居然正在看，便泄气地折返。诶呀呀，这也太给了啦！我思忖着自己有什么优点呢？瘦高、匀称、四肢颀长，嗯唔，算是分明的五官吧！此后很久我都不再察觉他偷瞄了，突然稍有不习惯。课正讲到无聊的部分，我不禁端详起同桌来：嗯嗯，头发浓黑茂盛、粗硬，短茬勾勒出圆润的后脑，深颔，嘴唇饱满，隆准……还不错，我想着。至于眼睛嘛……我移动目光向眉眼看去，正接上他深邃的瞳仁——我大吃一惊：“你你你看我干嘛，好好上课啦！”他没有回应，只不过缓缓转动眼珠向我扫射，眉梢轻挑，下巴微抬——“啊，被我发现了～”，他一定是这样想的吧！我感觉皮肤有些干燥，摸一摸脸，居然滚烫！明明，明明是他先的，我有什么紧张的呢！“但他确实还挺好看的……”停停停停！这一句是从脑海哪个角落冒出来的？难不成我要给魂觉醒，从此被掰弯了？我十八年来都是钢铁大直男哎哎哎哎！“哪里有★那么多可爱的女同学，你看上哪一个了？”啊，不要再这样想了！正当脑内挣扎之时，我忽略了右方，浅浅的笑意。

Nah~ I used all four ways to express "gay". May this short paragraph help your own writing!

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Wow! What are some other new generation expressions? I would love to hear about them!  
> **username_5**: In my experience ~ 's more direct meaning is a sort of wavering voice, but not in a fearful sense. Sorta like musical vibrato  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2020-02-11. Score: 2

hahaha, I understand this question, he must say something like"他看起来非常gay”. Most of the time, people use this word to describe some men really care about their outlook or their lifestyle. Maybe you know the "Gay or Europen", I think it's somehow like that.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Exactly, we would say someone 很gay if he always cares about their hair or has a good looking body. Most of the time, it is positive and joking.  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2020-02-12. Score: 1

We always say,"你这个人好gay啊".

Also if a man is gay,you can say,"这个人是弯的".

```
straight  =>  love girl(for boy)
curved  =>  love boy or love girl and boy(for boy).

```


---

### Answer by username_9 on 2020-02-11. Score: 1

It can be expressed by Chinese idioms
  
**龙阳之好** or **断袖之癖**


---

