Feminine Product Euphemisms in Chinese

I saw this posted by David Moser on Facebook recently:

David writes:

This bilingual sign in the restroom of a Beijing hospital is interesting. The Chinese literally reads: “[If this is] a special day, [if] you need a feminine hygiene product, please contact someone at the front desk.” The English eschews such gentle euphemisms: “If you need a tampon during your period, please contact with the front desk [sic].” An interesting cultural difference?

Note that the translation of “tampon” in the sign isn’t quite accurate, and the picture doesn’t match.

There are definitely a lot of Chinese euphemisms regarding the topic of menstruation. The one I hear the most is also the simplest: 我老朋友来了 (wǒ lǎopéngyou lái le), literally, “my old friend is here.”

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. John Young Says: January 14, 2025 at 12:08 pm

    If you think about it, John, that particular aspect of being a woman is spoken about in euphemisms in every culture. In fact, in the sign you featured, the English word “period” is no less a euphemism than “special day.” If the English translation were really euphemism free, it would have said something like: “If you are menstruating, and need a tampon, contact the front desk.”

    • Yes, good point, although I don’t entirely agree with “no less a euphemism” because they do have differing levels of ambiguity. “Special day” can be used to mean other things and very often is. “Period” has other meanings, of course, but the contexts are more distinct.

      But that’s why we love language, right? Everything is relative, everything is subjective, everything is open to interpretation…

  2. I hadn’t heard about the friend. My Chinese wife would call it”姨妈”

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