Emotions & Reactions2020sinformal

社死

shè sǐ

Social death — an extremely embarrassing moment that makes you want to disappear.

Origin & Background

Short for 社会性死亡 (social death). Became popular around 2020-2021 as Gen Z embraced sharing embarrassing moments online.

Examples

I called my teacher "mom" in class — total 社死.

我当众摔了一跤，社死了。(I fell in public — social death.)

Related Slang

绝绝子

jué jué zǐ

Absolutely amazing / Absolutely terrible — an emphatic expression that can be positive or negative depending on context.

EMO/emo

emo

Feeling down, sad, or melancholic — used when experiencing a wave of negative emotions.

牛/牛逼

niú / niú bī

Awesome / badass — strong praise for something impressive or someone skilled.

尬

gà

Awkward / cringe — describes an uncomfortable, secondhand-embarrassment situation.