DIY Chinese penis euphemisms ft. Jingsu
Letâs make some penises in Chinese.
Because there are relatively few characters in Chinese (around 20k in a modern dictionary) compared to the number of words in other languages (100k+ in English), most characters carry many meanings. This leads to ambiguities if writing were to be fully composed from single-character words, which is why most words in modern Chinese are compounded from two or more characters, and the meaning is synthesized from the individual meanings. Here are some penis-relevant suffixes, in no particular order:
Youâll notice that these are all, well, things. This is one typical pattern for making a Chinese compound word: the second character describes the physicality in some way while the first describes an attribute (characters are flexible and can be either prefix or suffix depending on context). Here are some penis-relevant prefixes:
塨- huge (the opposite would be 垎 for tiny, but itâs hard to find micropenises in erotica)
Now we can create our own penis euphemism by mashing any two together. Here are some real quotes from explicit Jingsu fanfic (translations are kept literal here, but I almost always translate every euphemism to cock because itâs the English term I hate the least):
č§ćŻç°çéłĺ
ˇĺ¤§ĺžćäşşďźćŻä¸čŹçäšžéłčżčŚĺ¤§ä¸ĺ ĺďźäťćžçŹčŻ´čżćŻç厜ĺ¨ä¸Ľďźč˘Ťć˘
éżčç˝äşä¸çź [x]
Xiao Jingyanâs yang implement was frighteningly large, even significantly larger than the average Alphaâs. He once joked that this was the might of the imperial bloodline, getting an eye roll from Mei Changsu.
ĺŞćŻçĺ°ä¸ä¸ä¸Şć¸
éççŹé´ďźč§ćŻç°ĺˇ˛çťĺ°äťçĺč
żĺĺźăĺ°éŁç˛çĄŹćťçŤçĺśĺćľä¸ćżĄćšżç犴ĺŁăăč¸éŞĺŻťć˘
ă
But the next instant he came to, Xiao Jingyan had already parted his legs. Pressed that thick, hard, and searing violent blade against his wet opening.
č§ćŻç°çĺĺŁĺˇ˛çťĺŽĺ
¨ĺźäşďźéĺ¤´ä¸¤ć šć§ĺ¨ć˘äşĺşćĽďźćĺ¨ććŽĺ¤§č
żĺ¤äž§ ăĺćśćă
Xiao Jingyanâs sac had fully opened, two sex organs emerging from inside and hitting against the outside of Lin Shuâs thigh.
äťä¸ĺŽä¸çĽéčŞĺˇąč˘Ťéťĺ¸čä˝ĺçźďźäť°ç头贚ĺĺĺçˇäşşčćŁçć¨Ąć ˇćĺ¤âŚâŚčŻąć [x]
He must not know howâŚseductive he looks, black cloth covering both eyes, tilting his head to strenuously swallow a manâs meat stick.
č§ćŻç°äšä¸ĺ磨čšďźéććčżĺşčžšçćśćŻĺŤĺąďźĺ¨čŞĺˇąçéŁçŠä¸ćśäşĺ ä¸äžżćľĺ¨äşéżčç´§éççŠ´ĺŁ [x]
Xiao Jingyan didnât waste any more time either, grabbing the disinfectant gel conveniently by the bedside, applying it a few times on that thing of his then pressing it against Changsuâs tight opening.
The anatomical term for the penis is é´č = yin stalk, the word that is the closest equivalent of penis. But why is the penis both a yin stalk and yang implement? Glad you asked. Yang is associated with the male and yin with the female, but the very concept of yin-yang is that thereâs yin in yang and yang in yin (think of the symbol itself). The penis is a yin part because the privates are the most yin on the body. So you can think of it as either the thing of a yang being, or the yin thing on a yang beingâthe wonderful duality of the male member.
As you might expect, not all of the possible combinations are actually in use. Like, é´ćŁ = yin stick isnât a thing. Why not? I donât know, it just isnât. If you used it in context, readers would understand you mean penis and probably puzzle a bit over why you didnât use the more common names.
Some of the combinations also mean other things. ĺśĺ¨ = violent instrument actually means murder weapon in ordinary use. Can it be a penis euphemism during rough sex? Yes, but most of the time it means the real weapon. éŁć š = that root is tricky because ć š is a classifier word (a similar concept to measure words in English) for long stick-like objects in addition to its meaning of root, so éŁć šÂ is almost always used in conjunction with other words, like that phallic [thing], as opposed to a penis on its own, which would probably be confusing to read. But when the character precedingÂ ć š is something else, like çˇ- male, then itâs not being used in the classifier context, and çˇć š = male root is indeed a penis.
Now that weâve gotten the explanations out of the way, I searched through the corpus of Chinese Jingsu fics on my computer (around 1000+ fics) to look for all possible combinations of the prefixes and suffixes listed above, tossing out the compound words that donât mean penis in context, to see what the most popular penises are. Behold the Jingsu compound penis matrix:
Congratulations to our winner, sex organ, and the distant runner-up, that thing. In contrast, the anatomical yin stalk is not very popular, kind of like how penis is not used as frequently as other terms in English erotica.
Okay, so now you have the power to create all kinds of penises. But whatâs the correct penis to use in a particular situation? Jingsu smut is, of course, mostly ancient erotica (unless itâs a modern AU), so the tendency is to go for the more literary and euphemistic, and the way to do that is to be less physically descriptive. That thing is definitely more suited for delicate company than meat stick (though some authors happily use meat stick in their ancient settings anyways), and jade/yin/yang penises are also more literary. çč = jade stalk is, in fact, the traditional Chinese medicine term for the penis and also a literary term, in use for well over a thousand years.
č§ćŻç°ĺäşçş˘ĺ¸ĺ°ć˘
éżčççčćć辡ćĽďźč˘Ťç˝č¤čĄŹčľˇćĽčçźĺžĺžăăć˘
çŹă
Xiao Jingyan tied up Mei Changsuâs jade stalk with red silk, looking quite eye-catching against white skin.
It would be way oversimplifying things to say weâre done now when there are many more methods to form words and penises in Chinese besides our simple algorithm. Letâs first discuss some concepts with English analogs:
A lot of ancient cultures associated chickens with the male member, and we have cock in English. In Chinese, children call penises ĺ°é¸Ąé¸Ą = little chicken, kind of the equivalent of weewee. You would definitely not use it in a sexy story.
In English you could say he pushed himself inside, and you could say that in Chinese too, with čŞĺˇą = self. A relatively euphemistic term.
Thereâs also little [personâs name], so ĺ°éżč = xiao-Changsu and ĺ°ćŻç° = xiao-Jingyan exist. And yes, so does ĺ°ĺ°ćŽ = xiao-xiao-Shu, Lin Shuâs penis. This might be my least favorite one. These are not generally euphemisms youâd see in moreâŚwell-regarded erotica.
Okay, now onto the more uniquely Chinese penises. We have some more euphemistic ones:
éŁčŻĺż = those words, actually meaning that which we canât speak of, and penis. čŻĺż on its own just means words and remarks in general, but once you add that in the beginning, it becomes a whole other thing (though it can still mean those words in non-erotic contexts). This is one of the euphemisms found in the infamous erotic Ming Dynasty novel éçść˘
(JÄŤn PĂng MĂŠi), The Plum in the Golden Vase, so it has a storied history, though it isnât used much in Jingsu smut at all. ä¸ćäšçŠ = uncivilized thing is also along these lines (äš here is a literary possessive particle). You can also put all kinds of adjectives before äšçŠ for a more customized penis.
Speaking of adjectives, one thing about Chinese very different from English is that parts of speech are fluid, especially in Classical Chinese where many characters are basically any part of speech. çŤç is fire + hot, but it can be both an adjective, fiery hot, that you stick in front of a penis, or a noun, fiery heat, that acts as a penis itself. So çŤçäšçŠ, fiery hot thing, is a penis, and hereâs an example where just fiery heat is the penis:
äťç¨éĄżäşéĄżďźäžżçť§çťĺžéć¨čżďźéé˘ć¸Šćç´§č´ďźč éĺ¸éĺ¨äťççŤçä¸ďźĺ°ąĺĽ˝ĺäťäťŹĺ¤Šçĺ°ąćŻä¸ĺĽçďźć¤ĺťçťäşéśĺľĺŽć´äş ăĺ¤ĺŽżĺąąĺŻşă
He paused slightly, then continued pushing inward. The passage is warm and tight inside, clinging onto his fiery heat as if they were two pieces made for each other, finally tessellating together and becoming whole in this moment.Â
We also have words with standard definitions that mean something else in erotica:
ĺ°ć š = dust root, which is actually a term in Buddhism that means one of the human senses rooting you to the mortal realm, often referred to as the realm of ephemeral dust (ĺ°ä¸). This is a creative allusion, because what else is a penis but a root that traps you in carnal desire and prevents you from reaching nirvana? Of course, whether itâs appropriate for use depends on whether you want to bring up mortality and the illusion of desire when your characters are getting it on. ĺ˝ć š = sinful root, or the more fun translation, root of evil, is also along these lines.
ĺŞćŻčżäšä¸ćłďźč§ćŻç°ĺć ščżć˛Ąč˘Ťč§Śç˘°ĺ°çĺ°ć šĺ°ąä¸é˘¤ä¸é˘¤ççŤäşčľˇćĽďźçĄŹéŚéŚĺ°ĺ°ĺčç亾裤ć辡ä¸çĺ¸çŻˇ [x]
At this mere thought, Xiao Jingyanâs utterly untouched dust root trembled upwards, forming a stiff tent in his thin underclothes.
ĺ˝ć š = life root, meaning the source of vitality or reason for living, which is obviously the penis. This one does refer to penis in ordinary use as well, often humorously.
äťçĺ˝ć šĺçťč§ćŻç°ĺŤçďźç¨ĺĺŽčŁšďźĺ äščŚćäťçéäťčşŤä˝éĺ¸ĺşćĽä¸ć ˇă[x]
His life root was held in Xiao Jingyanâs mouth and forcefully sucked, as if threatening to extract his soul from his body.
揲ć = desire. Very popular in erotica, not in the dictionary as a penis, and may confuse a first-time fic reader why an abstract concept is being shoved places.
č§ćŻç°ćĄä˝ć˘
éżč纤éżçĺč
żďźčŽŠäťçź ĺ¨čŞĺˇąč
°ä¸ďźć忍čŚĺżçäşç揲ććľĺ¨éŁĺ°ĺ°çĺ
ĽĺŁďźć
˘ć
˘ĺ°ć¨äşčżĺť [x]
Xiao Jingyan gripped Mei Changsuâs slender legs, letting him wrap around his own waist, and pressed his desire, nearly exploding with need, against that tiny opening, slowly pushing in.
ĺ躍 = split body, or where the body parts (and what you do with it to another body). Its usual meaning is to find time to do something else, and this meaning is only for erotica.
At this point, I should say that some of these may have been invented for erotica to get around censorship. The coined words often evolve to become part of the vocabulary of the in-group over time, such that even when thereâs no need to censor, people instinctively use the vocabulary to signal, whether subconsciously or consciously, that theyâre in the know.
Of course, just because a euphemism is popular, or of proper ancient lineage, doesnât mean it will be subjectively to your taste. Jade stalk burns my eyes despite being a classic literary term, which probably says more about my Chinese than anything else; someone whoâs really internalized this term and isnât still on the literal level of understanding probably doesnât mind it at all. Honestly, my original intention was to giggle a bit at all the euphemisms, but now that Iâve stared at them for a while, they all seemâŚokay to me (except xiao-xiao-Shu, that one can die). Not sure whether thatâs a good thing or not.
A bonus last one very relevant to Jingsu, éžć š = dragon root, just for His Majestyâs penis.
č§ćŻç°çéžć ščżĺĺ¨čŞĺˇąä˝ĺ
ďźä¸ä˝ćšżćťç˛č
ťďźä¸ççźčďźč¸ĺç两çšĺ袍čćçŠĺźďźć˘
éżčçćłĺ°ąčżäšćčżĺťçŽäşă[x]
Xiao Jingyanâs dragon root was still buried inside him, his lower body slick and wet, a completely sorry mess, and the two nubs on his chest were being wantonly toyed with againâMei Changsu really wished he could just pass out on the spot and be done with it.
Hereâs a penis alignment chart that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a summary of our findings:
What if I donât want to make penises?
As youâve seen so far, Chinese is very good for euphemisms, and you can write the dirtiest smut without mentioning any parts once.
My favorite Jingsu sex euphemism is easily ć˘
ĺźäşĺşŚ, literally plum blossoms bloom for the second time, which is an idiom meaning reaching the pinnacle again. Itâs frequently used to describe a footballer scoring the second goal in a single match, someone finding new love after a failed relationship, or yes, orgasming for the second time in one night. But in the Jingsu context, it can also be literally read asâŚMei Changsu âopensâ for the second time.
I would write another post on euphemisms for other body parts and sex in general (including the inexplicably many sex puns in NiF canon names), but this euphemism is clearly the pinnacle, and I will not reach it again.
