Beautiful Chinese Words and What They Mean

Lists of beautiful Chinese words tend to be lists of literary phrases that few people say aloud. This page picks words with real currency in Taiwan. Each one is something you can say to a Taiwanese friend this week, and each comes with a note on how it is used and where English comes close.

The ten words are 緣分 (yuán fèn), 撒嬌 (sā jiāo), 小確幸 (xiǎo què xìng), 加油 (jiā yóu), 辛苦了 (xīn kǔ le), 窩心 (wō xīn), 貼心 (tiē xīn), 療癒 (liáo yù), 默契 (mò qì) and 惜福 (xí fú).

A word on “untranslatable”. Every word here can be translated, and the English glosses below are fair. What the gloss usually misses is the situation the word belongs to, who says it to whom, and what it quietly asks of the listener. That is what you can only pick up by hearing it in use, and it is a good reason to learn these words in sentences.

緣分 (yuán fèn)

緣分 is the connection that brings people together and keeps them there: a chance meeting that turned into a friendship, a marriage, a good teacher found at the right time. The Ministry of Education dictionary defines it as the destined fit between people, and cites a classic novel where a character says two friends meeting again so soon shows they have 緣分.

You will hear it in sentences like 我們很有緣分 (wǒ men hěn yǒu yuán fèn, we have a real connection) and 有緣 (yǒu yuán, to be fated to meet). English “fate” and “chemistry” each cover part of it.

撒嬌 (sā jiāo)

撒嬌 describes behaving sweetly and a little childishly to someone who loves you, in order to get their attention or a small favour. The dictionary says it relies on the other person’s affection. A child does it, and so does an adult with a partner or a friend: speaking in a softer voice, drawing out a syllable, asking with a pout.

A note on reading: 撒 is sā here, and the other reading, sǎ, means to scatter. People in Taiwan use 撒嬌 as a verb and describe someone as 愛撒嬌 (ài sā jiāo, fond of 撒嬌), and it can be affectionate, teasing or mildly critical, depending on tone. English “act cute” or “be coy” gives the surface. The social meaning, that you are secure enough with this person to be a little childish, is the part you learn by watching.

小確幸 (xiǎo què xìng)

小確幸 means a small, certain happiness: a good cup of coffee, a seat on the MRT, the first warm day. It is a modern word and not in the Ministry of Education dictionary. It is usually traced to the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, whose essays used the idea, and it became popular in Taiwan through Chinese translations of his work. The characters are 小 (small), 確 (què, certain) and 幸 (happiness).

In Taiwan the word is common in conversation, in shop names and in advertising. English “small joys” is close. The 確 means sure, so the small happiness is a dependable one.

加油 (jiā yóu)

加油 literally means to add fuel, and the dictionary lists that sense first, as filling a vehicle. The second sense is figurative: to put in more effort, and the word people use to cheer someone on.

You say 加油！ to a friend before an exam, to a team at a match and to a runner at the finish line. Written down, it is a standard encouragement: 加油，你一定可以的 (jiā yóu, nǐ yí dìng kě yǐ de, keep going, you can do it). 加油站 (jiā yóu zhàn) is a petrol station, so the word connects a cheer and a gas pump. English “come on” and “you’ve got this” are near, and Chinese 加油 works for a crowd as well as for one person.

辛苦了 (xīn kǔ le)

辛苦 has three senses in the dictionary: tired and troubled in body and mind, a polite phrase when asking someone to do something, and a greeting that acknowledges someone’s effort. 辛苦了 is the third use.

You say it to a colleague at the end of a long meeting (大家辛苦了, dà jiā xīn kǔ le), to a delivery driver, to a waiter, to a parent who has cooked. It means roughly “thank you for your effort”. The reply is often 你也辛苦了 (nǐ yě xīn kǔ le), you too. English has nothing that fills exactly the same slot. “Thanks” and “good work” are the usual substitutes, and both leave out the shared recognition that the work took effort.

Keep it for situations where effort was visible. It suits colleagues and service staff, and it is not a replacement for 謝謝 (xiè xie) when someone hands you something.

窩心 (wō xīn)

窩心 is a word with two almost opposite meanings in the dictionary. The first sense in the dictionary is the feeling of being insulted or wronged and unable to say so, a bottled-up frustration. The other is a warm, comforted feeling. In Taiwan it is most often used for the warm one: when a friend remembers your allergy without being told, you can say 好窩心 (hǎo wō xīn).

A learner should know both. A speaker from the mainland may hear the first meaning, so with a mainland friend, check the context before using it as a compliment.

貼心 (tiē xīn)

貼心 describes someone who is thoughtful in a close, attentive way, the person who brings you a jacket before you ask. The dictionary gives the sense “closest, most intimate”, and in everyday Taiwan Mandarin the word is used of a person or an act: 你好貼心 (nǐ hǎo tiē xīn, you are so considerate), 貼心的小禮物 (tiē xīn de xiǎo lǐ wù, a thoughtful little gift).

The word is both a compliment and a description of what care looks like in practice. English “considerate” is accurate but formal. The Chinese word is warmer and used in casual speech.

療癒 (liáo yù)

療癒 means healing, comforting, soothing, and it is a modern word, absent from the Ministry of Education dictionary and common in Taiwan. It is applied to things that make you feel better in small ways: a kitten video, a bowl of soup, a quiet cafe, a soft piece of music. The word is 療 (liáo, to treat) plus 癒 (yù, to recover from illness), and both characters carry the 疒 sickness radical.

You will see 療癒系 (liáo yù xì) on products and in reviews: the “healing” kind. Expect it more in posts, reviews and shops than in formal writing. English “soothing” or “comforting” is close.

默契 (mò qì)

默契 is a wordless understanding between people, the way two colleagues know what the other will do. The dictionary describes it as two sides being in agreement in feeling without using words, and gives the example of a basketball team’s coordination.

You hear 我們很有默契 (wǒ men hěn yǒu mò qì, we understand each other well) and 沒有默契 (méi yǒu mò qì, no chemistry). English “rapport” or “being in sync” is near. The word applies to couples, teams, friends and band members, and is often used as a compliment after a good performance.

惜福 (xí fú)

惜福 means to cherish what you have and not squander it. The dictionary says: value your good fortune and do not waste it. It is often paired with 感恩 (gǎn ēn, to be grateful) as a way of saying you should appreciate what you have.

It often comes up around food, as in finishing what you took, and around gratitude. English has “count your blessings”, which has the same moral shape, though 惜福 puts the weight on not wasting what you have.

How to learn words like these

Words with a social meaning are better learned inside a sentence than as a glossed pair. When you meet 辛苦了, record the situation too: who said it, to whom, at what moment. A card that shows the full line, and its audio from a native Taiwanese speaker if you have it, keeps that information. Check readings in a Ministry of Education source such as moedict.tw, which follows Taiwan usage.

The site dictionary is a quick way to check any of these words.

Related reading

• Chinese words for luck, strength and courage
• A guide to chengyu for intermediate learners in Taiwan
• Taiwanese internet and texting slang