戏精xì jīng

Drama queen

qǐng kāi shǐ nǐ de biǎo yǎn.请开始你的表演。Go on, start your show.

戏精 means a drama queen: a person who overacts, makes a show of small things and always plays a part. You can say it about a friend, a pet or yourself.

Took off: 2017
Started in: Social media
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

戏 means a play or drama. 精 is a spirit or goblin from folk tales. A 戏精 is someone so full of drama that they have turned into a spirit of it.

It is a tease more than an insult. 戏精本精, “the drama queen in person”, is what you call yourself after a big reaction.

How people use it

戏精 is now ordinary Chinese. Two common lines go with it: 戏精学院毕业的吧, “did you graduate from drama queen school?”, and 请开始你的表演, “please, begin your performance”, said when someone is about to make a scene.

The same 精 pattern makes 杠精, someone who argues with everything, and 柠檬精, a jealous person.

亮亮

完了完了，我的奶茶洒了！
wán le wán le, wǒ de nǎi chá sǎ le!
Oh no, oh no, I spilled my milk tea!
今天是我人生最惨的一天
jīn tiān shì wǒ rén shēng zuì cǎn de yì tiān
This is the worst day of my life.
再买一杯不就好了
zài mǎi yì bēi bú jiù hǎo le
Can’t you just buy another one?
戏精又上线了
xì jīng yòu shàng xiàn le
The drama queen is back.
嘿嘿，被你发现了
hēi hēi, bèi nǐ fā xiàn le
Heh. You caught me.

More examples

猫看到我回家，马上躺下装可怜，真是个戏精。
māo kàn dào wǒ huí jiā, mǎ shàng tǎng xià zhuāng kě lián, zhēn shì gè xì jīng.
When the cat sees me come home, it lies down and acts pitiful. What a drama queen.
就破了一点皮，你别演了，戏精。
jiù pò le yì diǎn pí, nǐ bié yǎn le, xì jīng.
It’s just a scratch. Stop acting, drama queen.

Where it came from

戏精 became a craze on social media in 2017. A China News Service round-up of the popular phrases of that year put it first. It says people used it to tease anyone who performs too much, above all on WeChat Moments, and that the joke 戏精本精 spread the same year.

English-language lists of 2017 slang included it too.