ㄍㄧㄥ

Chinese

		phonetic
simp. and trad. (ㄍㄧㄥ)		ㄍㄧㄥ

Alternative forms

ㄍㄧㄣ (gīn)

Etymology

From Hokkien, possibly 楗 (kēng) or 矜 (keng).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): gīng

(Zhuyin): ㄍㄧㄥ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: gīng
  - Zhuyin: ㄍㄧㄥ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: ging
  - Wade–Giles: king¹
  - Yale: gīng
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ging
  - Palladius: гин (gin)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kiŋ⁵⁵/

Adjective

ㄍㄧㄥ (Taiwanese Mandarin, slang)

obstinate
nonexpressive and nervously tense; rarely showing feelings; inhibited; stiff and uncomfortable
跟大家不熟的時候很ㄍㄧㄥ。 [MSC, trad.]
跟大家不熟的时候很ㄍㄧㄥ。 [MSC, simp.]
Gēn dàjiā bùshú de shíhòu hěn g'īng. [Pinyin]
When he's around people he's not familiar with, he gets very tense.

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “stiff”): (Standard Mandarin) 放膽／放胆 (fàngdǎn), 放鬆／放松 (fàngsōng), 放得開／放得开 (fàngdekāi)

Adverb

ㄍㄧㄥ (Taiwanese Mandarin, slang)

obstinately

Verb

ㄍㄧㄥ (Taiwanese Mandarin, slang)

to hold on firmly despite extreme adversity, pain, etc.

Synonyms

(Standard Mandarin) 硬撐／硬撑

Usage notes

Loanwords from Taiwanese Hokkien are occasionally written in Bopomofo, so as to alert the reader that the word should be pronounced according to its sound in Hokkien rather than Mandarin.