What's the bad word ㄎㄠˋ(kao4 ) mean and other naughty words?

Whenever I teach the word cow or try to pronounce Barbecue in Chinese I get…
“Oooh teacher, you said a bad word…”

For a long time thought bit meant “fuck” but my dictionaries don’t say this. The closest word seems to be ㄘㄠˋ 操/肏, or 草/肏/操。

I did find something just now…
靠 But that naughty word is the sixth definition of what looks like to be a perfectly useful word (Pleco Dictionary).

I think it is the pronunciation in Taiwanese and not Mandarin.

1 Like

Cow = shit

It can do

Khàu is the pronunciation for 哭 in Taigi. It is only a curse word because when using it alone you are actually implying the word being used in conjunction with other words such as pē (爸) or iau (枵).

Khàu-pē, cry for father, is cursing the other person’s father to die.

Khàu-iau, cry because of hunger, is cursing the other to become a beggar.

The fact that the khàu is said with a 2nd tone instead of it’s original 3rd tone, which means it went through a tonal sandhi, implies there is supposed to have words after it.

Sometimes you’d hear wa4-kao4 thrown around when someone is surprised, I think mostly by people over 30 these days. It is just a mangling of guá khàu- 我哭, which is also just an abbreviation of an much longer curse that has a subject word, e.g. I curse you to cry for…

Also, sometimes you hear wa4-sai4 instead of wa4-kao4. It’s from guá sái 我駛, and it is implied to have the words lí-niâ after it. The full curse has the meaning along the lines of I ride your mom. This is the one that has a much closer meaning to 肏.

So, something to think about before you throw cow and wasai around.

21 Likes

That may be it. Taiwanese is used a lot here.
I’d like to see that referenced and I could use a good Taiwanese dictionary and learning materials.
Thanks.

You use “Kh” I’m familiar with ㄅㄆㄇ and slightly famiar with pinyin. Is that a special Taiwanese sound?

I’m using the Taigi Romanization when talking about Taigi pronunciation.

2 Likes

1 Like

Usually just damn or shit. Or fuck. As in i lost my wallet oh fuck. I think it depends on the parents if they consider it to be a strong a shit or as weak as damn. I had parents get angry aomeone else was swearing in class with his word and afew imes had parents chew me out for punishing their kids saying it in class.

End of the day i just treat it as a word that seems to be “low class” and only use it socially for fun or when in fight mode. Never in professional settings.

2 Likes

When I first came to Taiwan many Moons ago, I was looking for an oven. I didn’t quite understand the tonal system here and I was getting a little frustrated not being able to make myself understood.

So as most English speakers do in English
when frustrated is we tend to emphasize the words with a downward intonation…

I was wondering why the department store hostesses gave me a funny look…
Maybe I was asking her for a “fucking box”, well that would have been the MTV across the street.
But I think there are a lot of Chinese words which if pronounced in the forth tone mean something naughty

2 Likes

If you say the wrong tone when you order pad kaphrao in Mandarin, it can be pretty awkward.

1 Like

Please include the Chinese Characters, or the ㄅㄆㄇ. My romanization skills are almost non-existent.

Pad kaphrao in Mandarin is 打拋豬 ㄉㄚˇ ㄆㄠ ㄓ×. If you say the second character in the 4th tone, you’d get yourself some awkward glances.

1 Like

Swearing in any language just makes you look silly, uneducated, and not grown up.

I can’t bring myself to ever saying MF or any other curses related to sexual assault or wishing someone else dead because it’s so tasteless.

:man_shrugging:

2 Likes

It’s still fun to learn and understand their usage and meaning. As long as you are not using it casually in every other sentence, I think it’d be fine.

I mean no one is going to think much of it if you let out a kàn when you stubbed your toe. As long as you don’t let out the full 6 syllable version.

1 Like

Or perhaps you have never yet gotten so angry at someone t o be on the cusp of murder and verbally telling them or wishes?

I think you’re right. It looks bad. the way i talk at lecture or business meeting and the way i talk when logging make it seem like i am bipolar.

1 Like

For everyone I know wa-sai simply means wow.

As in, look at my new Ferrari…

Wa-sai, that’s so cool.

Maybe it’s a generational thing.

Lumberjack, huh? :sunglasses:

Sadly, it’s a Taigi is dying thing.