凤凰男

鳳凰男

fènghuángnán

noun

Meanings

1 phoenix man (internet slang)
2 a man who rose from a poor rural background into the urban middle class through his own effort

Characters

phoenix (female)

Examples

他是典型的凤凰男，考上清华后留在了北京。

Tā shì diǎnxíng de fènghuángnán, kǎoshàng Qīnghuá hòu liú zài le Běijīng.

He's a classic phoenix man: after getting into Tsinghua he stayed in Beijing.

她妈妈不想让她嫁给凤凰男。

Tā māma bù xiǎng ràng tā jià gěi fènghuángnán.

Her mother doesn't want her to marry a phoenix man.

Tips

culture

From the saying 山窝里飞出金凤凰 (a golden phoenix flying out of a mountain nest). Often carries negative overtones in marriage-market discourse: the assumption is his rural family will be a financial and emotional burden on the urban wife (孔雀女, peacock woman).

register

Internet slang, common on marriage/relationship forums. Neutral or slightly pejorative depending on speaker.

Stroke Order

凤 fèng

凰 huáng

男 nán