<p>I think maybe your friend is referring to "ma de", which literally means "your mother" but colloquially means "f**k".</p>

<p>Actually, there's a slow, drawn out way to say this, which is "maaaa de", which means "f**k", "s**t"... but honestly, without the "de" (which sounds like "duh"), no one will misinterpret your meaning (or lack of meaning) by simply saying "ma".</p>

<p>I can actually give you a better applied example...</p>

<p>When I first arrived in China, I would often find women to be the more accepting of answering questions from lost foreigners than men, so I would often say: "qing wen", which means "please ask"... which translates to "excuse me, may I ask a question"?</p>

<p>However, if you ask this question to a single woman during the evening, "wen" also means "kiss", so it may sound like "hey, how about a kiss"?</p>

<p>This is the only misunderstanding I've had more than several times before understanding what was going on.</p>

<p>The last experience I've had was complementing others. I often find myself wanting to say "you have a wonderful personality", or "your personality. good!" using Chinese grammatical structure.</p>

<p>Personality in Chinese is "ge xing" or "ge shing". However, I often reverse these two characters and say "xing ge" or "shing ge". Unfortunately "xing gan" means "sexy". So if I compliment a woman on her personality in front of her peers, it sometimes sounds like I am saying "I think you... sexy! very nice".</p>

<p>Talk about cringeworthy!</p>

<p>That's my 2 cents...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-02T00:03:05.170Z
And "xing gao" just refers to "sex" (literally, sexual communication). So be careful with this stuff.
Tom Au
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-01T15:33:03.953Z
2014-07-01T15:33:03.953Z
BeetFarmer
<p>Note that I'm Taiwanese and I use Traditional Chinese characters. The swear words I type below (sorry!) may look different in Simplified Chinese. Also, China has <strong>way</strong> more swear words than us that I don't understand.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...for swear words, do they use the same character they use for the word or is it written differently? </p>
</blockquote>

<p>As many people have written above, the three most common swear words look exactly the same as normal words.
<p>Addressing your mother (or nobody's mother in particular) 媽的 (<code>ma1de5</code>) looks quite harmless. I have said this many times by pure accident because I address other people's mothers with one 媽 contrary to two (媽媽).
<p>操 <code>cao4</code> is synonymous with the F-bomb. It is usually pronounced <code>cao1</code> and used as a verb (to exercise extraneously) or in a phrase like 操場 (<code>cao1chang3</code>, meaning track field).
<p>幹 <code>gan4</code> is used with 幹什麼 <code>gan4shen2me3</code> and 幹事 <code>gan4shi4</code>. It's a verb meaning "to do". The sexual innuendo is the same as the English equivalent. <code>gan4</code> only becomes a swear word when it's on its own.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T01:06:40.687Z
Like I said, my uncle told me this. I can't really vouch for it. I'll edit it out :)
bloodiris0312
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-14T13:48:41.060Z
操 is a variant character of 肏 for this meaning, by the way (combination of 入+肉)
sqrtbottle
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-02T05:54:50.803Z
2014-07-14T01:06:59.037Z
2014-07-14T01:06:59.037Z
bloodiris0312
<p>干(gan4) is another character that could be accidentally said as a swear word in Chinese.</p>

<p>干(gan4) could mean do as in "gan4 shen2 me" or tree bark as in "shu4 gan4".</p>

<p>However, 干(gan4) is also the equivalent for "f**k" in Chinese. In our experience, our students usually accidentally say it when slowly pronouncing the compounds such as "gan4 shen2 me" and "shu4 gan4"</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-01T15:47:10.333Z
2014-07-01T15:47:10.333Z
ChineseHulu.com
<p>A friend of mine used to go to the post office and borrow a pen (bi3) from one of the women who work there. However, she kept asking if the woman had a bi1 (in the first tone), which means a cu*t until a friend noticed what she was saying and told her what it meant.
And they say shabi, which is pretty offensive, it would translate as stupid c*nt.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-01T21:39:55.153Z
2014-07-01T21:39:55.153Z
fluffy
<p><code>日</code> is a swear word getting popular and popular in china these days.. <br />
By the hatred for the Japanese..<br />
And it's stroke like <code>the circle with a dot</code> in the center..<br />
Same meaning as <code>sticking up your middle finger</code>..<br />
It is a very ”powerful” word that doesn't need any help of other words to lead it's meaning.<br />
Like <code>"ri ni ma"</code>for integrated phrase.<br />
The same applies to<code>二</code>which means <code>stupid</code>.<br />
<code>日！</code>,"f***!"<br />
<code>二！</code>,"loser!"<br />
<code>二货！</code>,"foolish one"<br />
<code>你很二</code>,"you are very stupid"<br />
<code>足够二</code>,"stupid enough"</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-01T06:22:17.320Z
`日` is not a new swear word. And it is not about hatred for the Japanese, too. `日` and `肏`(`操`)is same. It sound like `入` , so it is about sexual intercourse. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5#Descendants_2
Clay Hsu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-02T05:54:19.247Z
2014-07-02T06:04:13.607Z
2014-07-02T06:04:13.607Z
meeming
<p>Gotta be careful with <code>cao</code> - if you say it with a 4th tone you will only be saying one thing, and it's totally a swear word.</p>

<p><code>ma</code> I'm not totally sure how it would become a "curse word" - sure 'mom' could turn into 'horse' and that would be offensive but the only thing that could be considered is 4th tone <code>ma</code> which, actually, means to curse, to swear or to berate. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-28T03:51:02.553Z
2014-06-28T03:51:02.553Z
Mou某
<p>So I saw a video on youtube about a guys experience in china. He said that people can often accidentally say swear words if they say the tones wrong. Like the word "ma"</p>

<p>It can heard as mother but 'ma' can also be heard as horse in a foul way. Is there any pinyin/character combinations that I should be careful to write or say wrong/all together? </p>

<p>And for swear words, do they use the same character they use for the word or is it written differently? Also maybe describe a experience that you accidentally said a swear word in Chinese.</p>

<vocabulary><difference><pronunciation><tones><swearing>
Accidentally Saying Chinese Swear Words
# Accidentally Saying Chinese Swear Words

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-06-28)

So I saw a video on youtube about a guys experience in china. He said that people can often accidentally say swear words if they say the tones wrong. Like the word "ma"

It can heard as mother but 'ma' can also be heard as horse in a foul way. Is there any pinyin/character combinations that I should be careful to write or say wrong/all together?

And for swear words, do they use the same character they use for the word or is it written differently? Also maybe describe a experience that you accidentally said a swear word in Chinese.

**Tags:** vocabulary, difference, pronunciation, tones, swearing


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## 6 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-07-01. Score: 4

I think maybe your friend is referring to "ma de", which literally means "your mother" but colloquially means "f\*\*k".

Actually, there's a slow, drawn out way to say this, which is "maaaa de", which means "f\*\*k", "s\*\*t"... but honestly, without the "de" (which sounds like "duh"), no one will misinterpret your meaning (or lack of meaning) by simply saying "ma".

I can actually give you a better applied example...

When I first arrived in China, I would often find women to be the more accepting of answering questions from lost foreigners than men, so I would often say: "qing wen", which means "please ask"... which translates to "excuse me, may I ask a question"?

However, if you ask this question to a single woman during the evening, "wen" also means "kiss", so it may sound like "hey, how about a kiss"?

This is the only misunderstanding I've had more than several times before understanding what was going on.

The last experience I've had was complementing others. I often find myself wanting to say "you have a wonderful personality", or "your personality. good!" using Chinese grammatical structure.

Personality in Chinese is "ge xing" or "ge shing". However, I often reverse these two characters and say "xing ge" or "shing ge". Unfortunately "xing gan" means "sexy". So if I compliment a woman on her personality in front of her peers, it sometimes sounds like I am saying "I think you... sexy! very nice".

Talk about cringeworthy!

That's my 2 cents...

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: And "xing gao" just refers to "sex" (literally, sexual communication). So be careful with this stuff.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2014-07-02. Score: 2

Note that I'm Taiwanese and I use Traditional Chinese characters. The swear words I type below (sorry!) may look different in Simplified Chinese. Also, China has **way** more swear words than us that I don't understand.

> ...for swear words, do they use the same character they use for the word or is it written differently?

As many people have written above, the three most common swear words look exactly the same as normal words.

Addressing your mother (or nobody's mother in particular) 媽的 (`ma1de5`) looks quite harmless. I have said this many times by pure accident because I address other people's mothers with one 媽 contrary to two (媽媽).

操 `cao4` is synonymous with the F-bomb. It is usually pronounced `cao1` and used as a verb (to exercise extraneously) or in a phrase like 操場 (`cao1chang3`, meaning track field).

幹 `gan4` is used with 幹什麼 `gan4shen2me3` and 幹事 `gan4shi4`. It's a verb meaning "to do". The sexual innuendo is the same as the English equivalent. `gan4` only becomes a swear word when it's on its own.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Like I said, my uncle told me this. I can't really vouch for it. I'll edit it out :)  
> **username_4**: 操 is a variant character of 肏 for this meaning, by the way (combination of 入+肉)  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2014-07-01. Score: 1

干(gan4) is another character that could be accidentally said as a swear word in Chinese.

干(gan4) could mean do as in "gan4 shen2 me" or tree bark as in "shu4 gan4".

However, 干(gan4) is also the equivalent for "f\*\*k" in Chinese. In our experience, our students usually accidentally say it when slowly pronouncing the compounds such as "gan4 shen2 me" and "shu4 gan4"


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### Answer by username_6 on 2014-07-01. Score: 1

A friend of mine used to go to the post office and borrow a pen (bi3) from one of the women who work there. However, she kept asking if the woman had a bi1 (in the first tone), which means a cu\*t until a friend noticed what she was saying and told her what it meant.
And they say shabi, which is pretty offensive, it would translate as stupid c\*nt.


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### Answer by username_7 on 2014-07-02. Score: 1

`日` is a swear word getting popular and popular in china these days..   
By the hatred for the Japanese..  
And it's stroke like `the circle with a dot` in the center..  
Same meaning as `sticking up your middle finger`..  
It is a very ”powerful” word that doesn't need any help of other words to lead it's meaning.  
Like `"ri ni ma"`for integrated phrase.  
The same applies to`二`which means `stupid`.  
`日！`,"f\*\*\*!"  
`二！`,"loser!"  
`二货！`,"foolish one"  
`你很二`,"you are very stupid"  
`足够二`,"stupid enough"

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: `日` is not a new swear word. And it is not about hatred for the Japanese, too. `日` and `肏`(`操`)is same. It sound like `入` , so it is about sexual intercourse. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5#Descendants_2  

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### Answer by username_9 on 2014-06-28. Score: 0

Gotta be careful with `cao` - if you say it with a 4th tone you will only be saying one thing, and it's totally a swear word.

`ma` I'm not totally sure how it would become a "curse word" - sure 'mom' could turn into 'horse' and that would be offensive but the only thing that could be considered is 4th tone `ma` which, actually, means to curse, to swear or to berate.


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