显眼包xiǎn yǎn bāo

Lovable show-off

kàn wǒ!看我！Look at me!

显眼包 is a person, or a pet, who loves attention and keeps doing silly, noticeable things. It is usually said with affection: the friend who dances in the street, the cat that sits in the middle of the table.

Took off: 2023
Started in: Kuaishou
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

显眼 means “eye-catching”, and 包 makes it a word for a kind of person, as in 受气包, someone who always gets picked on. Earlier, 显眼包 was a put-down for someone embarrassingly showy. In 2023 the tone turned warm.

How people use it

It is now everyday Chinese for a fun, loud friend, and a favorite for pets and children. Calling yourself a 显眼包 means you know you went too far, and you do not mind.

灯灯

年会的视频你看了吗？
nián huì de shì pín nǐ kàn le ma?
Did you watch the video from the year-end party?
看了，你在台上跳舞那个？
kàn le, nǐ zài tái shang tiào wǔ nà gè?
Yes. The one where you dance on stage?
对，大家都在笑
duì, dà jiā dōu zài xiào
Yeah, everyone was laughing.
你也太显眼包了吧
nǐ yě tài xiǎn yǎn bāo le ba
You’re such a show-off.
明年我还跳
míng nián wǒ hái tiào
I’m dancing again next year.

More examples

他在地铁上唱歌，真是个显眼包。
tā zài dì tiě shang chàng gē, zhēn shì gè xiǎn yǎn bāo.
He sang on the subway. Such a show-off.
我家的猫是个显眼包，总爱坐在桌子中间。
wǒ jiā de māo shì gè xiǎn yǎn bāo, zǒng ài zuò zài zhuō zi zhōng jiān.
My cat is an attention-seeker. It always sits in the middle of the table.

For the word itself and how to reply to it, see 显眼包 in the slang dictionary.

Where it came from

Nobody has found the first use. The Paper says the word was negative at first, and that fans of a Kuaishou streamer helped spread the friendlier meaning in 2023.

It made all three major lists of 2023: 咬文嚼字, the national language monitoring center and 语言文字周报.

The original. There is no single image. The Paper’s December 2023 article explains the word’s history. The Paper (in Chinese)