油腻 (yóunì): greasy

Meanings

1 greasy
2 oily
3 fatty (of food)
4 (slang) sleazy / obnoxious (of a middle-aged man)

Characters

油

greasy / cloying / bored of

Examples

这道菜太油腻了，我不太喜欢。

Zhè dào cài tài yóunì le, wǒ bù tài xǐhuān.

This dish is too greasy — I don't really like it.

他说话方式让人觉得很油腻。

Tā shuōhuà fāngshì ràng rén juéde hěn yóunì.

The way he talks comes across as sleazy.

Tips

culture

Since around 2017, 油腻 has taken on a slang meaning in Chinese internet culture to describe a certain type of middle-aged man who is self-important, pretentious, and off-putting — popularized by writer Feng Tang's essay '如何避免成为一个油腻的中年猥琐男.'