集美jí měi

Sis (said with an accent)

jí měi men!集美们！Hey, girls!

集美 is 姐妹, “sisters”, pronounced with an accent. Young women use it, often as 集美们, to greet female friends online.

Took off: 2020
Started in: A video blogger’s accent
Today: Fading

What it means

姐妹 (jiě mèi) means “sisters”, and many women use it for close female friends. 集美 (jí měi) changes the sounds, and the joke is the accent. The characters 集, “gather”, and 美, “beautiful”, are only there for the sound.

China Youth Daily points out why it caught on: calling a woman you do not know 姐妹 can sound too familiar, and 集美 is friendly but lighter.

How people use it

集美 is mostly written, in comments, posts and group chats. It is warm and playful, so keep it out of work emails.

琦琦

集美，你那条裙子在哪里买的？
jí měi, nǐ nà tiáo qún zi zài nǎ lǐ mǎi de?
Sis, where did you get that skirt?
网上买的，一百块
wǎng shang mǎi de, yì bǎi kuài
Online. A hundred yuan.
发我链接！
fā wǒ liàn jiē!
Send me the link!
好的集美，马上发
hǎo de jí měi, mǎ shàng fā
Sure, sis. Sending it now.

More examples

集美们，这家店的蛋糕真的好吃！
jí měi men, zhè jiā diàn de dàn gāo zhēn de hǎo chī!
Girls, the cakes at this shop are really good!
谢谢集美，我明天就去试试！
xiè xie jí měi, wǒ míng tiān jiù qù shì shi!
Thanks, sis. I’ll go and try it tomorrow!

Where it came from

A report on Baidu’s list of the popular phrases of 2020, where 集美 came first, says it started with a livestreamer whose accent turned 姐妹们 into 集美们. Fans found it funny and copied it.

China Youth Daily, in December 2020, also traces it to a video blogger: an accented 姐妹 that almost every young woman online now knows.