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凡尔赛 (Fán ěr sài) — Versailles (palace/place near Paris); (slang) humblebrag; an ostensibly modest but actually boastful statement or attitude

Definition

Originally the Palace of Versailles; in internet slang it means 'humblebrag' — a self-deprecating remark whose real point is to brag (e.g. complaining about how expensive a gift is).

noun
Versailles (palace/place near Paris)(slang) humblebragan ostensibly modest but actually boastful statement or attitude

Examples

  • 。
    Qù nián wǒ qù fǎ guó cān guān le Fán ěr sài gōng.
    Last year I visited the Palace of Versailles in France.
  • 凡尔赛，。
    Tā péng you quān tiān tiān fā Fán ěr sài, shuō lǎo gōng sòng de bāo tài guì zì jǐ bù hǎo yì si bèi.
    She humblebrags on her Moments every day, saying the bag her husband gave her is too expensive for her to carry.
  • 凡尔赛，。
    Tā nà duàn huà yě tài Fán ěr sài le, míng míng kǎo le dì yī què shuō méi kǎo hǎo.
    That remark of his was such a humblebrag — he got first place but said he didn't do well.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

凡fán
尔ěr
赛sài

'凡尔赛' spells the foreign name Versailles; the characters here do not carry their own meanings.

Sound-only characters

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

Open 凡 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 賽; 赛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell
Sound part声符shēngfú
塞
塞sāi賽sài
Same sound today

The traditional form 賽 uses 貝 (shell) for meaning and 塞 for sound. The simplified 赛 is a later shorthand.

Open 赛 →
Appears in
Abstract ConceptsLandmarks & Attractions

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