Hokkien profanity

Hokkien is one of the largest Chinese language groups worldwide. Profanity in Hokkien most commonly involves sexual references and scorn of the object's ancestors, especially their mother. The mentioning of sexual organs is frequently used in Hokkien profanity.

Hokkien is the preferred language for swearing in Singapore.

As in English, a vulgar word for the sexual act fuck is used in insults and expletives. Below are the most commonly used Hokkien vulgar words.

Vulgarities involving sexual acts

Kan

Kan (), literally meaning fuck, is the most common but grossly vulgar profanity in Hokkien. It's sometimes also written as . It is a common swear word in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Used in a manner similar to the English word fuck, kan can express dismay, disgrace, and disapproval. It is extremely offensive when used to insult someone.

kàn lín lāu-bú chhàu chi-bai (), often abbreviated to kàn lín lāu-bú () or simply "kàn lín niâ" (), is the most notoriously popular Hokkien expletive meaning "fuck your mother's smelly vagina (Cunt can also be substituted in this.)".

Variety of phrases associated with Kan:

• kàn lín-niâ () = fuck your mother
• kàn lín lāu-bú () = fuck your mother
• kàn lín lāu-bú chhàu chi-bai () = fuck your mother's smelly vagina
• kàn lín chó͘-má () = fuck your great grandmother
• kàn lín lāu-su () = fuck your teacher
• kàn lín-niâ chi-bai () = fuck your mother's vagina
• kàn lín-niâ chhàu chi-bai () = fuck your mother's smelly vagina
• kàn lín lāu-bú poah chi-bai () = fuck your mother's broken vagina, literally means "fuck your mother broken vagina"
• kàn lín-niâ-bú chhàu chi-bai () = fuck your mother's smelly vagina. In Singapore, niâ-bú 娘母 (mother) also exists in other variants of pronunciation such as nâ-bú (a vowel change from niâ to nâ when spoken quickly), nâ-beh ().
• kàn lí chin-sóng() = literally means "it's cool to rape/fuck you"
• kàn kah ē khan-si () = literally means "fucking you until it becomes wet". Describing that vagina will become wet and intertwined like a spider web during sexual intercourse
• lín-niâ (), lín-niâ--leh () or lín-niâ khah-hó () = short form for kàn lín-niâ (), meaning "fuck your mother".
• sio-kàn () = means having sex, fucking each other, to fuck
• tio̍h kàn () = to get fucked
• hiông-kàn () = expression used in anger, meaning "go get fucked!"
• khí-kàn () = start scolding someone in vulgarity, start swearing
• kàn kha-tshng () = sodomy, anal or oral sex
• káu-kàn-tÅ«i() = to curse someone being fucked/raped by a dog
• hō͘-káu-kàn-kàn leh () = to curse someone to be fucked by a dog

Others

• poah (撥) - to fuck or fucking
• bôa (磨)- literally 'to rub' or 'to grind'. Slang for 'having sex', the imagery being two bodies rubbing against each other.

• tēⁿ (捏)- literally 'to squeeze' or 'to lie on something'. Slang for 'fuck'.
• "lí hō͘ lâng tēⁿ" (汝予人捏) - you let yourself get (squeezed).
• sè (勢) - literally 'to whack'. Slang for 'fuck'.
• "lí hō͘ lâng sè" (汝予人勢) (you let yourself get fucked).

• kā (咬) - literally 'to bite'; slang for fellatio. Expression:
• "lí khàm goá lān-chiáu" (汝崁我𡳞鳥) (suck my cock), used in anger as in "up yours!"
• khàm (崁)- literally 'to cover'; slang for fellatio. Expression:
• "khàm lān" (崁𡳞) (stupid cock).

• phah chhíu-chhèng (拍手銃)- literally 'to fire a hand-gun'; slang for male masturbation
• chhÄ«u-ni/chhiÅ«-leng (樹奶) - literally 'rubber'; slang for condom

Vulgarities involving sexual organs

Female organs

• chi-bai (膣屄) - vagina; cunt
• chhàu chi-bai (臭膣屄)- smelly vagina
• ni, leng (奶)- breast

Male organs

• lān-chiáu (𡳞鳥) - penis; also used as an expression to indicate incredulity, as in the English "Bullshit!". Expressions:
• koài-lān (怪𡳞) - literally 'weird penis', used to call somebody fucked up or abnormal.
• kóng lān-chiáu oe (講𡳞鳥話) - to talk rubbish
• khoàⁿ siáⁿ-mih lān-chiáu? (看啥物𡳞鳥) - "What the hell are you looking at?"
• lām-pha (𡳞脬)- scrotum; also used as an expression to indicate incredulity, as in the English "Bollocks!" Nasal assimilation takes place as the onset of the second syllable is a bilabial, turning the underlying form /n/ in the coda of the first syllable to the surface form /m/.
• lān-hu̍t (𡳞核) - testes; used in a similar way as the above examples.

Gender-neutral organs

• kha-chhng (尻川) - buttocks or anus
• kha-chhng khang (尻川孔) - anus; arsehole

Vulgarities without sexual references

• khàu-pē khàu-bú (哭爸哭母) - literally 'cry father cry mother', refers to annoying and noisy complaining. This expression is considered vulgar possibly due to the practice of professional mourners wailing for the dead; one using this phrase would be inauspicious due to the allusion to this practice.

Hokkien profanities grouped by word

References