10 hot internet slang words you had no idea came from online gaming!

And... Just three foreign video games are the source of most gaming slang phrases

May 21, 2025

If you’ve been following this newsletter for some time, you’ll know I hunt for interesting Chinese words and phrases used by real people, in real-time, to discuss the news as it happens in China.

I share them every Saturday in the RealTime Mandarin newsletter.

One of my favourites is known as “internet slang” (网络流行语).

These are modern Chinese words which began online, have taken hold, and become mainstream lingo used on- and offline. You’re unlikely to find them in a language textbook, or even in a dictionary.

As a total language nerd, every time I discover a new internet slang, I have to know where it came from and what it means. That’s because understanding this context reveals more about what’s happening in China right now—phrases are often linked to major events or cultural phenomena, which people in China “just know” about, but language learners may not.

Over the last 4.5 years of language nerdery, I’ve found one unexpected source of such slang phrases….

…Online gaming!

In fact, online gaming has had a big impact on the modern Chinese language.

A word or phrase which may have started in an online gaming chat room, could eventually end up as a “hot” internet buzzword (热词), a viral meme (热梗), the title of a news story about corporate battles, or even as a way to express an official government opinion.

Let’s take one recent news story as an example: how two of China’s biggest internet companies are competing for dominance in each other’s markets.

The battle is between JD (京东), one of China’s biggest e-commerce platforms, as it makes an aggressive push into food delivery—a sector long dominated by Meituan (美团). While Meituan, the biggest food delivery company in China, is charging into e-commerce, challenging JD’s core business.

Headlines discussing this battle between JD and Meituan claim:

JD “PK” Meituan: Who will dominate the trillion-yuan instant retail market?
京东PK美团，谁能主宰万亿即时零售市场

The term “PK” stands out because it’s not Chinese characters.

“PK” is one of those Chinese phrases which originated from online gaming—from an imported video game—and is now common in spoken language and news coverage.

The phrase began life in the early 1990s, when text-based online games were popular in China. Those early computer games were mainly imports, and with them came the English language gaming slang.

“PK” originally was how player deaths were described in these games, meaning a “Player Kill”, to be killed by another in-game player, as opposed to a non-player character.

“Player Kill” morphed into “PK”, which is much easier to pronounce for Chinese speakers, and became common in Chinese language gameplay.

The term made its way into daily language, originally as a noun, and later evolved into a verb, with different meanings depending on context, such as to “challenge”, “defeat”, “kill”, or “eliminate”.

Back to the context of the battle between JD and Meituan, “PK” in the title of the news story can be translated as “vs”, “challenges” or “battles”.

“PK” is just one of many modern slang terms in Chinese which have come from online gaming, some of which we’ll share below.

But before that, even more surprising, is which games these phrases come from.

Most phrases come from a small number of blockbuster foreign games popular in China. The three main ones are:

League of Legends (英雄联盟): developed by Riot Games, entered China in 2011 through Tencent (China’s largest gaming company).
World of Warcraft (魔兽世界), released in 2004, entered China in 2005 under NetEase, another top gaming company in China.
Dota 2 (刀塔), the full title is Defense of the Ancients 2, which was developed by Valve and launched in 2013 and localised for the China market by Perfect World (完美世界) in the same year.

In more recent years, two homegrown Chinese video games have also generated more online slang phrases which have then gone mainstream:

Honour of Kings (王者荣耀), is one of the most popular mobile multiplayer online battle arena games in China, developed by Tencent, released in 2015
Black Myth: Wukong (黑神话：悟空) is an action role-playing game developed by the Chinese studio, Game Science. Released in 2024, Black Myth is China’s most successful video game ever.

Of these two, Honour of Kings has became so popular that it has its own slang title: “pesticide”.

The word for pesticide in Chinese is "农药" (nóng yào), which has a similar pronunciation to the word for “honour” (荣耀 róng yào) from the game’s title. So the game is jokingly called “pesticide” by its fans.

In more recent years, the term “pesticide” has taken on a darker tone, meaning the gaming industry as a whole. It’s often used in government narratives pejoratively to draw attention to the negatives of gaming, as a poisonous “spiritual opium” (精神鸦片).

Despite official pushback—including limits on how many hours children can play online each day, restrictions on gaming companies, and increasingly negative rhetoric—online games still play an important role in everyday life and language in China today.

So, do you know what other popular internet phrases started life in computer games?

Let’s PK一下! 👇🔥

10 trending internet slang words you had no idea came from online gaming

Artwork by Zhang Zhigang for RealTime Mandarin

Here are 10 of our favourites which have featured in previous RealTime Mandarin episodes.

Two-character phrases

1. 氪金 kè jīn

“spending virtual money” — over-spending online, or being tricked into online purchases

氪金的实质是一种炫耀性消费，粉丝凭借大量氪金的经济实力攀爬权力阶梯 - Spending virtual cash is a kind of ‘show off consumerism’ - the more fans spend the higher they climb within fan groups.
Background: In the gaming context, this means “in-game purchasing” or paying for virtual goods in online games. This term was popularised by the phrase, "24K Pay-to-win Dog Eyes" (24K氪金狗眼), where "氪金" means spending large amounts of money on rare in-game items. In mainstream Chinese it means spending lots of money online, and even being conned into online or in-app purchases.
Source: World of Warcraft (魔兽世界)
In context: Gaming stocks lose $80 billion in one day

2. 冲塔 chōng tǎ

“attack the tower” — challenge or protest against those in authority

通过在公司内网“冲塔”的方式声援该名员工 - Other employees showed solidarity with her through protesting on the company’s internal web.
Background: This literally means "charging the tower". In gaming it refers to a reckless move where a player, not yet strong enough, attacks a defence tower, often resulting in their own defeat. As an internet slang it came to mean “asking for trouble”. Over time its meaning evolved to describe protests, or provocative actions or statements which violate censorship rules, or challenge authority.
Source: League of Legends (英雄联盟)
In context: Our favourite phrases of 2021

3. 上头 shàng tou

“gone in the head” — obsessed, addicted

这个产品会上瘾，太有毒、上头了 – This product is very addictive, users have become obsessed.
Background: In gaming lingo, this describes a moment of impulsiveness or being irrational, and a situation where a player, after achieving several kills, becomes over confident, ignores potential risks, and charges ahead—usually resulting in their death. In modern Chinese, the phrase has come to describe any impulsive or irrational behaviour driven by emotion or excitement, and even to become addicted to something.
Source: Defence of the Ancients 2 (刀塔 2)
In context: Catching Sheep: A new computer game with an old format takes off

4. 团灭 tuán miè

“total wipeout” — complete or total failure

最坏的情况下，储能在美国的业务会被“团灭” - In the worst-case scenario, the energy storage business in the U.S. will be totally wiped out.
Background: In gaming this means the complete defeat of an entire team during a group battle or raid, where all members are killed. In modern Chinese it describes any collective failure or complete annihilation of a group, sector, or even industry.,
Source: World of Warcraft (魔兽世界), League of Legends (英雄联盟)
In context: China’s exporters are feeling the pain

5. 破防 pòfáng

“guard break” — emotionally overwhelmed

网友们瞬间集体破防 - Netizens were instantly overwhelmed.
Background: Originally from fighting games, this phrase’s direct translation is "guard break", which means to break through an opponent's defences (“破” means “break”; “防” means “defences”). As a modern internet slang, it means to be emotionally overwhelmed, to burst into tears, or to feel devastated. It’s normally used humorously or in an exaggerated way. The phrase became so popular it was voted one of China’s top internet slang phrases in 2023.
Source: unknown
In context: Crashing stock markets, 31 July

6. 秒杀 miǎo shā

“instant kill” — totally wiped out, flash sale, to snap up

最近频繁刷到烤全羊秒杀套餐的钱怡，考虑再三过后还是被这个超低价给劝退了 - Recently, Qian Yi kept seeing flash sale deals for whole roasted lamb, but she was discouraged by the ultra-low price after much thought.
Background: The direct meaning is to “kill in seconds” (“秒” is “seconds; “杀” is to “kill”). In gaming it means to kill an opponent or a monster in an instant, using a single skill or physical attack. As a mainstream slang phrase, it can mean something similar, to beat, overwhelm, or wipeout a competitor in a very short time. It has more recently evolved into a common phrase heard in livestream e-commerce broadcasts, where products are sold within a short time period—which translates as “flash sale”.
Source: Red Moon (红月)
In context: Meituan “group take-out” boom signals shifting consumer habits

Three-character phrases

7. 带节奏 dài jié zòu

“set the tempo” — to mislead public opinion (against the interests of China)

不能由个别国家的单边主义给整个世界“带节奏” - We must not let the rules set by one or a few countries be imposed on others, or allow unilateralism pursued by certain countries to set the pace for the whole world (against the interests of China).
Background: Originally translated as “set the tempo”, this phrase was first popularised by game commentators as they described how experienced players would take the lead, organise their team, and execute coordinated attacks—which was known as “starting a wave of tempo” (“带一波节奏”). Over time, the term expanded beyond gaming into broader internet slang. It even made its way into official Chinese government rhetoric, used by its “Wolf Warrior” diplomats to mean “steering or influencing public opinion against the interests of China.”
Source: Defence of the Ancients 2 (刀塔2)
In context: Our favourite phrases of 2021

8. 拉仇恨 lā chóu hèn

“pull hatred” — to attract criticism, or provoke resentment

丁太升其实不是第一个骂的，只不过这人确实自带流量，也自带拉仇恨属性 - Ding Taisheng is actually not the first one to criticise the song, but he has a big profile and what he says attracts a lot of criticism.
Background: This original meaning is when a player deliberately draws attention from and attacks by monsters in a game, by increasing their own “aggro” or “hate”. In these games, monsters choose their targets based on each player's level of hate—the higher the level, the more likely a player is to be attacked. So in team battles, one teammate intentionally “pulls aggro” (拉仇恨) to draw the enemy’s attention, allowing others coordinate their attacks while the enemy is distracted. In modern Chinese, this is now commonly used to describe people who provoke resentment or jealousy—such as flaunting a romantic relationship, or showing off wealth or superiority.
Source: Unknown
Archive: Pop singer is too tacky

9. 血槽姐 xuě cáo jiě

“blood bar sister” — elites who abuse power and privilege for personal gain

昨天开始，一位来自上海的余小姐，因为遭遇一场严重车祸后逃出生天，而火遍全网，进而竟获封“血槽姐”这个让人浑身不适的称号 - Since yesterday, Miss Yu, a woman from Shanghai, has gone viral across the internet after surviving a severe car accident. She has since been given the disturbing nickname "Blood Bar Sister".
Background: The health bar, or “blood bar” (血槽 xuě cáo) in Chinese, first appeared in the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders (太空侵略者). The first graphical health bar emerged in the 1980 game Space Warrior (太空战士). Since then, the “health bar” has been a key feature in many games, offering a visual on a character’s health. The term “health bar” became part of a viral meme in November 2023, following a scandal involving a woman who became known as "blood bar sister" (血槽姐), after she shared a video online explaining how she used a powerful relative to force local officials in the Tibetan region of Ali to donate blood to her following her injury in a car crash. The “Blood Bar Sister” meme has since evolved into a more general term, representing the abuse of power and the over privilege of China’s elite.
In context: ‘Sister Blood Points’ Controversy: Shanghai Woman’s Tibet Blood Donations Ignite Privilege Debate

10. 黑神话 hēi shén huà

“black myth” — legendary, a stunning or sector-leading success

胖东来这家河南本土超市，早已成了商超领域的“黑神话” - Pangdonglai, this local supermarket from Henan, has already become a legendary success in grocery retail. [2]
Background: This is a reference to the title of China's most successful video game ever, Wukong: Black Myth, which was released in August 2024. Its popularity was so great that the phrase "black myth" (黑神话) has taken on its own meaning as a stunning or “legendary” success of a product or company in a particular sector, which has shot to fame out of nowhere.
Source: Black Myth: Wukong
In context: Local shopping mall builds national consumer brand but decides to stay small

Other gaming phrases you should know

As well as these ten phrases, all of which have now entered mainstream use, there are many more common Chinese phrases which have come from video games. Including:

PK pī kēi — to battle
GG gī gī — I'm done for, or it's over
完爆 wán bào — totally outperform
农药 nóng yào — poisonous computer games (“pesticides”)
开挂 kāi guà — achieving something amazing or unbelievable
毒奶 dú nǎi – when positive words backfire
满血复活 mǎn xuě fù huó — significant recovery in physical or mental state
6666 (溜溜溜溜) liù liù liù liù — awesome, well played

So, there you go, loads of “hot internet slang phrases” (网络热词) which began in video games, are now in wide mainstream use.

Try dropping them into your Chinese conversations to impress!

What Chinese gaming slang words do you know?

Share in the comments!