jiǒng
adjective #19,937

Meanings

  1. 1 embarrassed
  2. 2 awkward
  3. 3 in a difficult or helpless situation
  4. 4 (internet slang for expressing distress or embarrassment)

Examples

Wǒ zài dàtíng guǎngzhòng xià shuāidǎo le, zhēn de hǎo jiǒng.
I fell down in front of everyone — it was so embarrassing.
Fāxiàn fā cuò xiāoxi gěi lǎobǎn, tā gǎndào fēicháng jiǒng.
He found he had sent the wrong message to his boss and felt utterly mortified.

Tips

history
(jiǒng) is an ancient character meaning 'bright / shining', but around 2005 it became internet slang because the character's shape resembles a sad or distressed face: the rectangular outline is a face, at the top are eyebrows/eyes, and at the bottom is a mouth. This visual pun gave it entirely new meaning in Chinese netspeak.

Stroke Order

jiǒng