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雅皮士 (yǎ pí shì) — yuppie

Definition

A loanword for 'yuppie' — a young urban professional, typically materialistic and career-driven. It comes from English 'yuppie' (Young Urban Professional) and is used in Chinese to describe that same 1980s Western subculture.

noun
yuppie
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 雅皮士，。
    Tā shì yí wèi diǎn xíng de yǎ pí shì, zhù zài shì zhōng xīn de gāo dàng gōng yù.
    He is a typical yuppie, living in a high-end apartment in the city center.
  • 雅皮士。
    Bā shí nián dài yǎ pí shì wén huà zài měi guó hěn liú xíng.
    Yuppie culture was very popular in the United States in the 1980s.
  • 雅皮士。
    Hěn duō rén rèn wéi yǎ pí shì zhī guān xīn jīn qián hé shì yè.
    Many people think yuppies only care about money and career.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuīa short-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
牙
牙yá雅yǎ
Same sound today

雅 pairs 隹, a short-tailed bird, with 牙 as its sound part; the bird was a rook/crow, and the sense was extended to refined.

Open 雅 →

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.

Open 皮 →

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

The shape 士 comes from a simple drawing of a war axe. The character later came to mean a soldier, officer, or intellectual.

Open 士 →
Appears in
People (General)Social Roles & Status

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