不要脸

bú yào liǎn

Chinese · Mandarin

2/5 · Coarse

What does “不要脸” mean in English?

It means shameless or an accusation of disgraceful behavior. The literal translation refers to not wanting face, but it's not about looks.

Literally “not want face”

Romanised bú yào liǎn
Sounds like “boo YOW lyen”
Used as Coarse / informal
How it's used

It's used similarly to calling someone a dick or an arsehole in English, often in informal contexts to criticize someone's lack of shame or decency.

How strong is it? 2/5 · Coarse

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About this data

Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.

The literal gloss is a short editorial translation to show word-for-word sense, not an etymological claim.

“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.

Term attested via Viddexa SafeText (MIT). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.

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