Chinese number slang, from 520 to 88

In Chinese number slang, 520 means “I love you”, 666 means “nice one”, and 88 means “bye”. Read aloud, each number sounds like the phrase it stands for.

In Chinese, 520 is 五二零, wǔ èr líng. “I love you” is 我爱你, wǒ ài nǐ. The tones differ, but the syllables are close.

Mandarin has a small set of syllables, so a lot of words sound alike, and a string of digits can sound like a short phrase. Digits are quick to type, which was useful in game chat and early chat rooms.

We make Dengdeng, a reading app with real stories from China. In the app, Dengdeng and his friends also write to you every day, so chat language is part of what you read.

Love: 520 and 1314

520 is the best known. You see it in messages, on cakes, and as an amount of money to send.

The date 20 May, written 5.20, is an unofficial lovers' day online. Every year, marriage registry offices get long queues on 20 May, and on 21 May as well, because 五二一 also sounds close to 我爱你.

On WeChat, a normal one-to-one 红包, a digital red envelope, has a limit of 200 yuan. On 20 May, Valentine's Day and the Qixi festival, WeChat raises it to 520 yuan for that day.

1314 is 一三一四, yī sān yī sì. It sounds like 一生一世, yī shēng yī shì: “all my life”.

Together, 5201314 means “I love you for the rest of my life”.

On 4 January 2013, the date 2013-01-04 could be read, loosely, as 爱你一生一世. Registry offices across China were fully booked. In Shanghai alone, nearly 7,300 couples registered that day.

Praise and laughter: 666 and 233

666 is praise. 六 is liù, and it sounds like 溜, liū: smooth, slick, good at something. Typing 666 under a video means “nice one” or “well played”.

It started in game chat, where typing three digits was faster than typing a word. Later, people typed it in livestreams and in their 弹幕, the comments that scroll across the video. A 2020 China News Service report said it had topped one big livestream platform's yearly list of most-sent comments three years running.

233 means laughing. It does not come from sound. On the old Chinese forum 猫扑, emoticon number 233 was a figure laughing and hitting the floor. People started to type the number instead of the picture.

More threes mean a longer laugh: 2333, 23333, and so on.

Goodbye: 88 and 886

88 is 八八, bā bā, which sounds like 拜拜, “bye-bye”. That word came into Chinese from English.

886 adds a 6. Said fast, 八八六 sounds like 拜拜了, “bye then”.

Both are a little dated. 886 was common on QQ, where people typed it before they logged off. Today many people type 拜拜 instead.

Bad moods: 555, 7456, 748 and 995

These four are for crying, anger, a rude insult and a call for help.

555 is the mildest of the four. People type it after a small disappointment, such as a sold-out item or a hard exam.

Do not type 748 to someone you do not know well.

The insult: 250

二百五, èr bǎi wǔ, is 250, and it also means an idiot.

This one does not come from sound. The usual explanation, which nobody has proved, is about money. Old copper coins were strung together, a thousand to a string. Half a string, 半吊子, came to mean someone who only half knows what they are doing. 250 is half of that again.

Lucky and unlucky digits: 8 and 4

Some single digits have a meaning outside slang too.

八, bā, sounds like 发, fā, as in 发财, “get rich”. So 8 is the lucky number. The Beijing Olympics opened at 8:08 pm on 8 August 2008, and more than 16,000 couples married in Beijing that day.

四, sì, sounds like 死, sǐ, “death”. Some buildings skip the fourth floor, and some skip 14 as well. Phone numbers and car plates with many eights cost more, and numbers with many fours are easy to get.

Quick reference

Common questions

What does 520 mean in Chinese?

520 means “I love you”. Read as 五二零, it sounds like 我爱你, and 20 May is an unofficial lovers' day.

Is 666 a bad number in China?

No. 666 is praise, close to “nice one” or “well played”. 六 sounds like 溜, “smooth” or “skilled”.

What does 88 mean in a Chinese message?

88 means “bye”. 八八 sounds like 拜拜, “bye-bye”, and 886 means the same.

Number codes are one part of how people write to each other in Chinese. In Dengdeng, Dengdeng and his friends send you a short message every day at your level, and you can write back. Tap any word in a message to see its pinyin and meaning. A free account includes 30 replies a week, and one story from each day's edition.