厚脸皮 (hòu liǎn pí) — thick-skinned, brazen, shameless

Definition

An informal adjective meaning 'thick-skinned, shameless' — describes someone who doesn't feel embarrassed or shy about bold, audacious behavior.

adjective

thick-skinnedbrazenshameless

厚脸皮，。
Tā zhēn hòu liǎn pí, bèi jù jué le hái jì xù shuō.
He's really shameless — he kept talking even after being rejected.
厚脸皮，。
Zuò xiāo shòu jiù dé hòu liǎn pí yì diǎn, bú pà bèi jù jué.
To be in sales you have to be a bit thick-skinned and not afraid of rejection.
厚脸皮，。
Tā tài hòu liǎn pí le, jìng rán gēn lǎo bǎn kāi zhè zhǒng wán xiào.
She's so brazen — she actually made that kind of joke with the boss.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

脸皮face skin

偏正Modifier + head

厚 means thick, and 脸皮 means the skin of the face.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 厚 puts 𣆪, a jug, beneath 厂, a cliff or cave.

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 臉; 脸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺼Written in full as肉ròubody part

Sound part声符shēngfú

僉

僉qiān臉liǎn

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 臉 combines ⺼ (肉, body part) with 僉 as a sound part; the simplified 脸 is a later abbreviation.

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

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Appears in