Chinese internet slangtop student · 学渣 (weak student)

学霸 xué bà

The top student, and the opposite, 学渣.

The short answer

EverydayNow commonChecked November 2026

Xueba means a top student: someone who studies hard and gets excellent grades. The opposite is xuezha (学渣), “study dregs”, a weak student. Students use both words about themselves and their friends.

Literal: study + tyrant; 学渣 is study + dregsRegister: Everyday word for students and parents. 学渣 is self-mocking.

In a chat

琦琦 Qiqi
这次考试你考了多少分？
Zhè cì kǎoshì nǐ kǎole duōshao fēn?
What did you get on the exam?
亮亮 Liangliang
九十八。
Jiǔshíbā.
98.
琦琦 Qiqi
学霸啊！我才六十分。
Xuébà a! Wǒ cái liùshí fēn.
You're a top student! I only got 60.
亮亮 Liangliang
下次我们一起复习吧。
Xià cì wǒmen yīqǐ fùxí ba.
Let's study together next time.

In the Dengdeng app, Dengdeng and his friends text you in Chinese every day, at your level.

How to reply

哪里哪里，我只是运气好。
Nǎlǐ nǎlǐ, wǒ zhǐshì yùnqì hǎo.
Oh, not at all. I was just lucky.
学霸带带我！
Xuébà dàidai wǒ!
Top student, help me out!

When not to use it

Calling yourself 学渣 is a joke. Calling another person 学渣 can hurt, unless you are close friends.
In formal writing, say 成绩优秀的学生 (a student with excellent grades).

What it means

霸 is a tyrant or an overlord, someone who controls a field. A 学霸 controls exams: they study hard and get top grades. The word is praise with a little teasing, because a 学霸 can also be a person who studies all the time.

学渣 is the opposite. 渣 is the dregs, what is left after you make tea or juice. People call themselves 学渣 to joke about bad grades.

How people use it

Both are nouns. 学霸 also works as an adjective: 他很学霸 (“he's very studious”). Students often ask a 学霸 for help: 学霸带带我, “top student, help me out”.

Above the 学霸 is the 学神, the study god, who gets top grades and does not seem to study at all.

Where it comes from

The word is old, and it first had a bad meaning. Chinese Wikipedia says that in the Ming dynasty, a 学霸 was a student who bullied others and broke the rules, and it quotes the word from the Ming story collection 二刻拍案惊奇.

The same page says the word spread online with its new, neutral meaning in 2012 (some say 2013). It describes 学渣 as a student who does not study during the term and crams before exams, a word people often use about themselves.

In use

2 examples

他(Tā)是(shì)我(wǒ)们(men)班(bān)的(de)学(xué)霸(bà)，每(měi)次(cì)考(kǎo)试(shì)都(dōu)第(dì)一(yī)。

He's the top student in our class. He comes first in every exam.

我(Wǒ)是(shì)学(xué)渣(zhā)，数(shù)学(xué)从(cóng)来(lái)没(méi)及(jí)格(gé)过(guo)。

I'm a hopeless student. I've never passed math.

The characters

Explore individually

to study

tyrant; to dominate

dregs, residue

Individual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.

Sources

Wikipedia (Chinese): 學霸

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.