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dz— zi sounds like saying a very short bzz , but with a d sound instead of the b )
    Bookworm, nerd, lacking social skills. Literally “book idiot.” 呆子 Dāizi means “idiot” or “fool” but is not often said alone.
     
    懒虫 lǎnchóng ( lahn chong )
    Lazy bones. Literally “lazy bug.” Said affectionately.
     
    小兔崽子 xiǎotù zǎizi ( shaow too dzigh dz— zǎi rhymes with “high”)
    Son of a rabbit. A gentle, teasing insult common among older people and directed at younger people. Ironically, parents often use this term to tease their children.
     
    傻冒 / 傻帽 shǎmào ( shah maow )
    A gentle, affectionate jest—closer to something silly like “stupidhead.” Literally “silly hat.” 傻 Shǎ ( shah ) means “silly” or “dumb.”
     
    傻瓜 shǎguā ( shah gwah )
    Dummy, fool. Literally “silly melon.” An extremely common insult, mostly used affectionately, and in use as early as the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368).
     
    呆瓜 dàiguā ( die gwah )
    Dummy, fool. Literally “silly melon.”
     
    面 miàn ( myinn )
    Northern Chinese slang for “timid” or “weak.” Literally “wheat flour,” as in the ingredient for noodles and bread, suggesting that the person is soft and flimsy as those foods.
     
    面瓜 miànguā ( myinn gwah )
    Timid, coward. Literally “timid melon” (or still more literally “flour melon”). Used only in northern China.
     
    白痴 báichī ( buy chih )
    Perhaps the most universal and commonly used term for “idiot” or “moron.”
     
    十三点 shísān diǎn ( shh sahn dyinn )
    A mild, usually affectionate insult meaning “weirdo” or “crazy.” Literally “thirteen o’clock.” Originated in Shanghai and used a bit in other parts of southern China as well, though it is fast falling out of favor and is mainly used by older people now. The term refers to the chī in báichī (above), as the character for chī , 痴, is written using thirteen strokes. Other theories maintain that it refers to an illegal move in a gambling game called pai gow, 牌九 páijiǔ ( pie joe ) in Mandarin, or that it refers to an hour that clocks do not strike (though nowadays thirteen o’ clock is possible in military time).
     
    半弔子 / 半吊子 bàn diàozi ( bahn dyow dz )
    Someone deficient in skill or mental ability. In ancient China, copper coins had square holes in the center and were strung together on a string. One thousand coins strung together formed a diào . Half of that (five hundred coins) was called 半弔子 / 半吊子 bàn diàozi ( bahn dyow dz ). Northern Chinese only, and seldom used today, but necessary to understand the more commonly used insult below.
     
    二百五 èrbǎiwǔ ( er buy woo )
    Dummy, idiot, moron. Literally “two hundred fifty,” referring to half a bàn diàozi (see above). This is an extremely common insult; everyone knows it and probably grew up hearing it a lot, but like shísān diǎn (above), it’s considered a bit old-fashioned now.

    A number of (usually) affectionate Chinese insults involve eggs. They most likely come from the much stronger insult 王八蛋 wángbādàn ( wahng bah dun ), literally “son of a turtle” or “turtle’s egg” and equivalent to “son of a bitch” or “bastard” in English. (The possible origins of wángbādàn are explained in the next chapter.) The insults below are mild and have shed any profane associations, much in the way we English speakers have mostly forgotten that phrases like “what a jerk,” “that bites,” and “sucker” originally referred to sex acts.
     
    笨蛋 bèndàn ( ben dahn )
    Dummy, fool. Literally “stupid egg.” 笨 Bèn ( ben ) alone can be used in many insults and means “stupid.”
     
    倒蛋 / 捣蛋 dǎodàn ( daow dahn )
    To cause trouble.
     
    滚蛋 gǔndàn ( gwen dahn )
    Get lost! Literally “roll away, egg” or “go away, egg.”
     
    坏蛋 huàidàn ( hwigh dahn )
    Bad person. Literally “bad egg.”
     
    糊涂蛋