撒娇 sā jiāo
Charm deployed on purpose — the affectionate art of acting spoiled.
The short answer
EverydayNow commonChecked November 2026
Sajiao means acting cute or spoiled on purpose — a drawn-out whine, a pout, exaggerated helplessness — to melt someone into giving you what you want.
In a chat
- 琦琦 Qiqi
灯灯，帮我拿一下嘛～
Dengdeng, get it for me, pleeease~
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
你自己拿。
Get it yourself.
- 琦琦 Qiqi
就一下嘛，好不好～
Just this once, pretty please~
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
好啦好啦，别撒娇了。
Okay, okay, stop acting cute.
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How to reply
撒娇也没用！
Acting cute won't work!
When not to use it
What it means
Sajiao is performance, but an honest kind: everyone involved knows it is a performance, including the target, who is supposed to enjoy being won over. The classic forms are the stretched syllables (不要嘛~), the pout, and claiming you cannot possibly open this jar alone.
Direction matters more than the move itself. Between partners, from a child to a parent, even from a junior colleague in small doses, it reads as warmth. From the wrong person, or past the third minute, it reads as too much.
How people use it
Grammatically it takes 对 (at someone): 她跟男朋友撒娇, “she's acting cute at her boyfriend”. It can also be advice — 你跟他撒个娇不就好了, “just act cute at him and it's solved” — the standard answer given to friends whose request has stalled.
Gender stereotypes say sajiao is a woman's move; actual usage disagrees. Children sajiao at parents, students at teachers, grown men at their wives, and cats at everyone.
Where it comes from
撒娇 is an ordinary word, not new slang, and most dictionaries list it. 撒 means to let out, and 娇 means delicate or pampered.
It is on this list because learners meet it often in chats and TV dramas, and English has no single word for it.
In use
2 examples她又跟男朋友撒娇，想要那只包。
She's acting cute at her boyfriend again — she wants that bag.
儿子不想去幼儿园，就跟我撒娇。
When my son doesn't want to go to kindergarten, he acts spoiled with me.
The characters
Explore individuallyIndividual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.
Sources
This guide is original Dengdeng editorial content, offered under CC BY-SA 4.0. The linked dictionary entries adapt CC-CEDICT under the same license.