考背

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (考背)		考	背
simp. #(考背)		考	背
alternative forms		靠北

Etymology

The Mandarin pronunciation of these two characters approximates the sound of Hokkien 哭爸 (khàu-pē, literally “to mourn the death of one's father”). The phrase is also a crude way to curse someone (i.e. to hope that a person is placed in the position of having to mourn the loss of a parent).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kǎobèi

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄠˇ ㄅㄟˋ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kǎobèi
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄠˇ ㄅㄟˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kǎobèi
    • Wade–Giles: kʻao³-pei⁴
    • Yale: kǎu-bèi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kaobey
    • Palladius: каобэй (kaobɛj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ peɪ̯⁵¹/
    • Homophones:

      [Show/Hide]
      edit edit 拷貝／拷贝 考背

Interjection

考背

1. (Taiwanese Mandarin) May your parents rot!

   • 一面跑她一面揉著她的膀子，跑到老遠她才回過頭來，朝著王雄吐了一泡口沫罵道：「考背！」 [MSC, trad.]
     一面跑她一面揉着她的膀子，跑到老远她才回过头来，朝着王雄吐了一泡口沫骂道：「考背！」 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1965: Pai Hsien-yung, Taipei People, A Sea of Blood-red Azaleas

     Yīmiàn pǎo tā yīmiàn róu zhe tā de bǎngzǐ, pǎo dào lǎo yuǎn tā cái huí guò tóu lái, cháo zhe Wáng Xióng tù le yī pào kǒu mò mà dào: “Kǎobèi!” [Pinyin]

     Rubbing her shoulders as she ran, she ran some distance before turning around, then faced toward Wang Hsiung and spat. "May your parents rot!" she cursed.