Gay

Gay originally meant “carefree, merry.” Over the twentieth century, men who loved men adopted it as a self-chosen name — warmer and freer than the clinical vocabulary of the era — and today it is the neutral, everyday English word. Chinese-speaking communities borrowed the English word wholesale: people simply say “gay” in conversation, or the clipped 男同 (nan tong, “male same”). The formal written term is 男同性恋 (nan tongxinglian, “male homosexual”). Cantonese 基 (gei) also derives from the sound of “gay,” with a tone that ranges from playful to derogatory depending on who is speaking.

Register note: in English, “gay” is preferred over the clinical-sounding homosexual. In Chinese contexts, “gay” refers almost exclusively to men; the umbrella word for the whole community is tongzhi.

Common misuse: “that’s so gay” as a putdown turns a neutral identity word into an insult — the identical move exists in Chinese (“这也太 gay 了”). Also a scope trap for translators: English sometimes uses “gay” as an umbrella (“the gay community”), but in Chinese that reading rarely applies — reach for tongzhi instead.