lose face

English

WOTD – 25 January 2013, 25 January 2015

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 丟臉／丢脸 (diūliǎn) or 丟面子／丢面子 (diū miànzi), both literally “lose face”.

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

lose face (third-person singular simple present loses face, present participle losing face, simple past and past participle lost face)

(idiomatic, intransitive) To lose the respect of others; to be humiliated or experience public disgrace.
- 1942 March, “Notes and News: Monument to a Stillborn Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:
  "The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face.
- 1986, John Shelby Spong, Beyond Moralism: A Contemporary View of the Ten Commandments‎^[1], HarperCollins, published 2000, →ISBN:
  Ahithophel, Absalom's chief counsel, hanged himself when he lost face after his advice was rejected.
- 1996 March 15, Michael Evans, “China offensive cannot be ruled out, experts say”, in The Times‎^[2], number 65,528, →ISSN, →OCLC, Overseas News, page 14, column 7:
  The intelligence sources said the Chinese would not want to lose face. One source said, however: "The show of military muscle has provoked an international reaction and that may be enough face saved."
- 2011, Mel Robbins, Stop Saying You're Fine: Discover a More Powerful You, Crown Archetype, published 2011, →ISBN, page 221:
  When you start to feel unmotivated, you will look for ways to weasel out of your commitments. We all do it. If there's a stealth way to back out, without ever losing face, you will do it without hesitation.
- 2012, Sharon Pincott, Battle for the President's Elephants: Life, Lunacy and Elation in the African Bush, Jacana Media, published 2012, →ISBN, page 97:
  He had arranged for one of his managers to be present in the office with us, so I should have realised immediately that there was little chance of him backing down since that would have meant losing face in front of a subordinate.

Related terms

loss of face

Translations

lose respect of others

Belarusian: стра́ціць твар pf (strácicʹ tvar)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 丟臉 / 丢脸 (zh) (diūliǎn), 丟人 / 丢人 (zh) (diūrén), 丟面子 / 丢面子 (zh) (diū miànzi)
Czech: ztratit tvář pf
Danish: tabe ansigt
Dutch: het gezicht verliezen, gezichtsverlies lijden
Esperanto: perdi la vizaĝon
Finnish: menettää kasvonsa (fi)
French: perdre la face (fr)
German: das Gesicht verlieren (de)
Greek: ρεζιλεύομαι (el) (rezilévomai)
Indonesian: kehilangan muka (id)
Italian: perdere la faccia
Japanese: 面目を失う (めんぼくをうしなう, menboku o ushinau)
Khmer: ខ្មាស (km) (khmaah)
Korean: 체면 을 잃다 (chemyeon-eul ilta), 얼굴 이 깎이다 (eolgur-i kkakkida), 낯 이 깎이다 (nach-i kkakkida)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Luxembourgish: d'Gesiicht verléieren
Malay: jatuh air muka
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tape ansikt (no), miste ansikt

Nynorsk: miste andlet, miste ansikt
Polish: tracić twarz impf, stracić twarz (pl) pf
Portuguese: perder o respeito
Russian: потеря́ть лицо́ pf (poterjátʹ licó)
Spanish: desprestigiarse (es), quedar mal parado, perder la faz
Swedish: förlora ansiktet, tappa ansiktet
Thai: เสียหน้า (th) (sǐia-nâa), หน้าแหก (th) (nâa-hɛ̀ɛk)
Tibetan: སྤམ་ཤོར (spam shor)
Turkish: itibarını kaybetmek, mahçup olmak, saygınlığını yitirmek, yüzü kalmamak (tr)
Ukrainian: втра́тити обли́ччя pf (vtrátyty oblýččja)
Vietnamese: mất mặt (vi)