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瘪三 (biē sān) — (pejorative) a bum, a vagrant; a good-for-nothing

Definition

A Shanghainese-origin slang noun meaning a bum or good-for-nothing, always pejorative. It is informal and regional — far stronger than neutral 乞丐 (beggar) and never used for self-reference.

noun
(pejorative) a buma vagranta good-for-nothing

Examples

  • ，瘪三。
    Tā zhěng tiān yóu shǒu hào xián, jiù shì gè biē sān.
    He loafs around all day — he's just a bum.
  • 瘪三，。
    Bié gēn nà ge biē sān lái wǎng, tā huì dài huài nǐ.
    Don't associate with that good-for-nothing; he'll lead you astray.
  • ，瘪三。
    Jiù shè huì lǐ, hěn duō qióng rén lún wéi le biē sān.
    In the old society, many poor people became vagrants.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

瘪biě
三sān

The characters 瘪 and 三 do not carry their own meanings here; the whole word names a vagrant.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 瘪 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

Open 三 →
Appears in
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