28 Must-know Chinese Adjectives to Describe a Person

Every language has its own extensive list of vocabulary for describing someone, both in terms of personality and appearance. Learn some of these key terms, and you can greet your Chinese host family with a compliment or flatter a hotel hostess by saying how beautiful she looks today.

Here’s a list of Chinese adjectives to describe a person—positive and negative.

(Note: this post uses traditional Chinese characters.)

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Common Terms for Describing a Person’s Personality

Keep in mind that you can also describe someone negatively by simply placing 不 (bù) before any of the positive terms listed above.

For example, you can say 他不聰明 (tā bù cōng míng) to say “he is not smart,” which is essentially the same as 他很笨 (tā hěn bèn) — “he is stupid.”

Note that when using 不, 很 isn’t used. We’ll discuss 很 more in-depth later.

Common Terms for Describing a Person’s Appearance

If you want to compliment someone’s appearance without pointing anything out in particular, you can just say 身材好, which literally means “good body” or “good figure.”

What about 瘦? As with Western culture, the word “skinny” can be a positive or a negative, though it’s usually positive since being thin is considered a desired trait, especially for women. In Chinese culture, the term is generally positive by default. You can make a woman happy just by telling her 你很瘦 (nǐ hěn shòu) — you are thin/slender.

But it can also be negative. If someone were to say 你太瘦 (nǐ tài shòu le — you are too skinny), they’d be implying that you should probably eat a bit more. More women in China are actually beginning to eat less as they strive for that supermodel-thin image, but that’s a whole other topic.

As mentioned earlier, there are more politically correct terms for “fat” and “short.”

As for 难看, yeah, I don’t think there’s a nicer word for that. Strangely, the term is used quite often when describing babies. Parents won’t hesitate to use that term when describing how their children looked as infants.

Adjectives with Different Meanings in Western and Chinese Culture

Adjectives may differ in meaning across Western and Chinese cultures. What’s considered a positive attribute in one society may not be considered one in another.

Take the word “gullible,” for example. In English, the term has a negative connotation as it describes someone who’s easy to trick or deceive.

In Mandarin, an equivalent word is 老实 (lǎo shí). But it isn’t exactly negative. It describes someone who—while maybe slightly on the naive end—sees the good in other people and is quick to trust someone.

Another word is 內向 (nèi xiàng — introvert). In Chinese culture, this is a fairly neutral term that just refers to someone shy and reserved. In English, “introvert” may more or less mean the same thing. However, some also use the term to describe someone who’s anti-social or lacks self-confidence in front of other people. 內向 doesn’t quite have that context.

Use 很 When Describing a Person

In Mandarin Chinese, we use 很 to mean “is” when using adjectives. We never use 是 (shì). For example:

他很高 (tā hěn gāo) — He is tall

This character is the English equivalent of “very.” In some cases, it’s used to increase the intensity of a thought or feeling. For example, 我很想你 (wǒ hěn xiǎng nǐ — I miss you very much), as opposed to simply 我想你 (wǒ xiǎng nǐ — I miss you).

If you insist on using 是, you can do so by adding 一個 (yī gè) before and 的人 (de rén) after the verb. For example:

他是一個高的人 (tā shì yī gè gāo de rén) — He is a tall person

This is wordier, and in spoken conversation, people often just use 他很高.

For more information on how to describe a person, FluentU has many videos showing natural conversations. You can even look up the terms in this post to see how they’re used by native Chinese speakers.

Etiquette for Not-so-positive Descriptions

In Western culture, would you say to someone’s face that he or she is fat? I suppose you would if you’re deliberately trying to insult or show some tough love. But in normal conversation, you would use more politically correct terms to avoid offending that person. This may include terms like “curvy” or “full-figured.”

It’s the same in Chinese culture. Certain terms are used to describe a person more gently.

For example, instead of bluntly and insensitively saying 她很胖 (tā hěn pàng — she is fat), a more appropriate wording would be 她很丰满 (tā hěn fēng mǎn).

丰满 means “plump.” Another suitable word would be 圆润 (yuán rèn — round).

It’s also considered generally insulting to call someone short. You wouldn’t want to say 她很矮 (tā hěn ǎi — she is short). A more polite term would be 娇小 (jiāo xiǎo), which best translates as “petite.”

With these new vocabulary words for describing people, you can make compliments or even partake in local gossip. You can now assign attributes to family, friends or your favorite celebrity.

For example, I can say this regarding my favorite Mandopop idol Jolin Tsai: 蔡依林很性感 (cài yī lín hěn xìng gǎn — Joline Tsai is sexy!).

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