word/chin character for gay in classical and modern chinese

[serpentino]

A friend asked me for a "single chinese character for gay". After a brief look into my set of dictionaries, which only produced one word, unfortunately written by three characters ("tongxinglian" 同性恋) I started wondering:

Was there a word and/or a chinese character for "gay" in classical chinese? second, are there any other words in modern chinese than "tongxinglian" 同性恋 ? i've got the feeling there will be some differences between PRC/TWN/HKG/...?

thanks everybody!

[L-F-J]

同志 tong2 zhi4 = comrade (slang for gay)

[semantic nuance]

You can say a gay is of 斷袖之癖. Its origin is here.

Or, a little bit derogative term is 玻璃. Some will use 0號, or 1號 to designate the homosexaul. For lesbians, T (Tom-boy) and 婆 are used.

Another for queer is 酷兒.

Hope it helps!

[hakkaboy]

Or, a little bit derogative term is 玻璃. Some will use 0號, or 1號 to designate the homosexaul. For lesbians, T (Tom-boy) and 婆 are used.

Another for queer is 酷兒.

I would feel uneasy at using meaningless terms such as 玻璃 and 0號 all over China. Are you sure they would be understood in Kunming, say?

[eddiewouldgo]

基 as in 基佬 in cantonese. It's pretty degrading, I would not recommend it.

[L-F-J]

基 gei1

[Quest]

It's just English Gay assigned a Chinese character.

[bokane]

龙阳君 is another old-fashioned term, though it's a reference to a guy with a thing for catamites, rather than a reference to general gayness.

I think 玻璃 is exclusive to Taiwan; at least, I've only ever heard it from Taiwanese speakers.

[Lu]

I've heard of a character that was used for gay, it's like nan2 (male) but the lower part is nv3 instead of li4. I think this was used some centuries ago, somewhere in Fujian or sth? Am not sure. I also have no idea what the pronounciation would be.

[skylee]

But the top of 男 is simply 田 ... do you mean 孌 (luan2) as in 孌童?

[semantic nuance]

Or 嬲 (niao3) ?

[skylee]

another term is 安陵之好.

[Lu]

Skylee: No, I really mean tian2 on top and nv3 below.

[skylee]

Lu, according to Xiandai Hanyu Cidian, the word's pronunciation is ji1. The dictionary lists only one explanation - the word together with 姦, i.e. ji1 jian1, is the same as 雞姦 (ji1 jian1).

Take a look at this online dictionary -> http://140.111.1.40/yitic/frc/frc02068.htm

[Lu]

That's the one I meant.

『明律有ji奸罪條，將男作女也。』, 'In Ming law there was an offence called jijian, which is when a men acts as a woman.' Hm, not a very nice way to describe homosexuality.

[chenpv]

Check this link: Brief Terminology for Homosexuality in Classic Chinese.

and this link: Brief History of Homosexuality in Ancient China

Informative but not exclusively authentic.

[doumeizhen]

After Brokeback Mountain won an Oscar and Li Ang became the glory of the

Chinese (huaren zhi guang), the term "duan bei" ("dun bui" in Cantonese) is

used every day loosely and widely in most newspapers in Hong Kong referring

to any male relationships in doubt.

http://english.sina.com/taiwan_hk/1/2006/0408/72191.html

I think this is the most important step of linguistic assimilation of "the

Other" into daily life context after the term "Tongzhi" (comrades) being

transformed from the context of Revolution in both the Republican and the

Communist government decades ago.