Rather than try to explain mid-post every single time, I've decided the thing to do is to have a nice, convenient glossary page on the sidebar so anyone who needs an explanation can get one at any time.
Please do keep in mind, of course, that this is exclusively a glossary of "what I personally have come to understand these terms mean" and that I have no significant historical, linguistic or cultural knowledge of China, so this is mostly what I have gathered from context in the shows I've watched (two live-action dramas adapting danmei novels, one animated partial adaptation of a danmei novel, three non-danmei animated shows, and also two voiced video games), what I've read in the glossaries of the officially translated novels, and the information provided in a few AO3 works designed to assist people in writing fanfic set in the world(s) of MXTX's novels. (These AO3 works can be found here, here and here.)
All that being said, regardless of the accuracy of the definitions I provide below, these definitions are absolutely how I, personally, have been using the terms, so this page definitely serves to provide context/meaning for anything I post on this blog. (However, please be assured that if I do learn that I have been grossly misusing any terms, I will amend this page appropriately.)
Final word of warning, these are terms I picked up mostly for use in fanfic of Mo Dao Zu Shi, which I learned primarily in that novel and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's other two novels, all of which have an ancient China setting that is varying degrees of historically...uh...how to put this? Well, like, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System is literally taking place inside the world of a very badly written webnovel (which was so bad that MXTX's protagonist died of outrage on finishing reading it, only to be transmigrated into it), so while the setting has a culture based on ancient China, the world itself is radically different from any real locations. By contrast, MDZS is set mostly in real places, but the culture on display is--by the author's open admission--based on the cultural practices of numerous different time periods. (Compare to things like the movie The Court Jester, which specifically claims it's set in England, but in the reign of a king who never existed, and with material culture on display ranging across several hundred years.) Heaven Official's Blessing, like Scum Villain, is set in a world more distinctly fictional, as most or all of its locations are not based on real places, but again the culture on display is rooted in the actual ancient culture. Anyway, some of these terms are archaic and no longer in use (as far as I've gathered) while others are modern terms that would not yet have been in use when the others were commonly used. So please don't use this as a reference for writing anything. Just use this to interpret my drivel. 😅
General terms:
Cultivation: this is a concept I'm still struggling to fully comprehend, tbh. It is rooted in Daoism, and is in reference to the cultivation of the self. At its roots it is a search for immortality and/or ascension to godhood. This seems to involve meditation, martial arts and elemental magic, as well as the fighting of evil (whether in monstrous or human form). In Mo Dao Zu Shi (my preferred fandom 🥰), the martial arts are primarily sword-based, and there is also a strong tendency towards musical techniques that can be quite powerful. People who practice cultivation are called cultivators, obv. Cultivators who are not part of a sect are wandering or rogue cultivators, depending on how politely they're being described.
Demonic cultivation: I suspect this varies from fictional universe to fictional universe, but the simplest definition is probably just "evil cultivation." In MDZS, though the title involves "demonic" cultivation, I recall reading somewhere that it's actually called "ghostly" cultivation in the text of the novel itself, since Wei Wuxian's deviant cultivation techniques are exclusively about controlling the dead. I know various other works also feature "demonic cultivation" (Thousand Autumns, for example), but I haven't read those, so I don't know how theirs differs from that of MDZS.
Dizi: a traditional instrument, played like a flute. A bit lower class than a xiao.
Xiao: another traditional instrument, which is played like a recorder or clarinet, etc. Seen as a bit classier than a dizi. (Not to be confused with the family name Xiao or the word "xiao" which means "little" and is often part of nicknames. (Like Xiaomao in The Apothecary Diaries.))
Guqin: another traditional instrument, this time a stringed instrument. It is laid flat on a table or across the player's lap. Sometimes translated as "zither." It is an archaic instrument that was eventually replaced by the very similar guzheng. (At least, I think that's what I read...)
Cut-sleeve: a term meaning a gay man. Possibly (probably?) at least partially derogatory by definition, though actual manner of use and context necessarily changes the tone of the term. Refers to a story about an emperor whose boyfriend fell asleep on his sleeve. When the emperor was called away to attend to matters of the empire, he didn't want to wake his lover, so he cut off his sleeve rather than disturb him. (The story is probably apocryphal, but the emperor and his lover were real. And the emperor actually wanted to leave his throne to said lover (who was an important member of his court and a high-ranking noble), though this was not allowed. The fact that their relationship lasted the rest of their lives makes it, to me, a better term than talk of the "love of the half-eaten peach" since that emperor later had an acrimonious break-up with the boyfriend in question.)
Birth name: obviously, the name given to a child at birth. However, after they become an adult and have a courtesy name, using the birth name is either for those who are particularly close to the person (for example Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji using each other's birth names) or those who want to be dismissive of/insulting to the person (for example almost everyone using Wen Ning instead of Wen Qionglin), though it is less dismissive/insulting when coming from someone of an older generation. Typically a single-character name.
Courtesy name: special name granted to young men when they come of age (at fifteen in MDZS, at twenty in reality). Typically a two-character name. Used in conjunction with the family name to be polite, though using it by itself can be a sign of closeness. I got the impression that courtesy names are more of an upper-class thing, and thus wandering cultivators might not have one, but that may be me totally misreading the situation. 😅
Sobriquet: special name earned (or sometimes self-chosen?) through one's actions. Using it is a polite form of respect in most cases. (I don't think addressing Wei Wuxian as "Yiling Laozu" could ever be seen as a polite form of respect...) Not everyone has one. However, women can have them, whereas it seems like courtesy names are for men only.
Night Hunt: when cultivators go out to hunt down evil beings, it's called a Night Hunt. Even if it's during the day. (I have zero clue as to why.) These can be individual actions, group actions, or organized collaborative or competitive events.
Yao beast: a type of monster, basically. (Similar to the Japanese yokai. Probably linguistically related, in fact.) As defined within the text of MDZS, a yao beast is formed from a living non-human being, so something like a fox spirit (huli jing) would be a yao beast. They come up a lot as enemies to be hunted. Most of the other categories of things they hunt as enemies have "official" translations--ghosts, monsters, demons--but yao beasts don't.
Fierce corpse/walking corpse: okay, "walking corpse" is probably pretty self-explanatory, actually. 😅 For that matter, so is "fierce corpse." They're akin to zombies, but also...the implications in a few passages are that any body left unburied is likely to become one. Not that burial always stops a corpse from rising, but in those cases it's mostly because of unfinished business. Unlike zombies, they can be pacified back to their rest, much in the way a ghost can be pacified into passing on in most (all?) cultures.
Qiankun pouch: a magical pouch that can hold almost anything, regardless of its size. (So it's the TARDIS of little bags.) There are also qiankun sleeves in some works, but MDZS mostly just has the pouches, as far as I can recall.
Puppet: this is exclusive to The Untamed. Basically, in filming the drama adaptation of MDZS, they felt they couldn't use the undead. Like, at all. Which was obviously a huge problem given that the hero is a freakin' necromancer! Anyway, they came up with this "puppet" thing...which is basically the same as a fierce corpse only the person isn't technically dead, and just had their soul sucked out? It doesn't really make any sense and is drastically inconsistent from use to use within the show. I'm only including it in the glossary because I've posted quotes from the massively long fic I spent a year writing that was based on the drama's canon, and therefore had to include puppets.
Yin Iron: again, exclusive to The Untamed. It makes even less sense than puppets, and is even more inconsistent. Kind of halfway between the Yin Tiger Tally and the One Ring. 😰 Again, just including it here because I've posted stuff about that massively long fic that used the drama's canon. (I tried to solidify a single set of rules for the Yin Iron that actually made sense, and didn't violate (too much of) what happened in the drama prior to the fic's divergence point.)
Qi: okay, so this is another concept I have trouble wrapping my head around. It's like the necessary energy for life, or something? It's not the same as the spiritual energy the cultivators use to perform various feats, but I think the two are at least related to each other?
Qi deviation: again, I'm not totally clear on exactly what a qi deviation is, except that it's often (maybe usually) fatal. It's probably best to consider it to be the person's qi going out of control, with disastrous results to their bodily health.
Zidian: unique to Mo Dao Zu Shi in its various forms, Zidian is a spiritual weapon in the form of a whip of purple electricity. When not in use, it is a ring on its bearer's finger. (In The Untamed, this ring is connected to a snake-themed bracelet. Not sure why, though it does look cool.) Initially it belonged to Yu Ziyuan, but she gives it to her son, Jiang Cheng, who wields it for the majority of the novel. Zidian has the special ability to separate a ghost from the living body it's possessing. (And yet so far as I know, no one has yet made any Metroidvania games starring Jiang Cheng. Talk about a missed opportunity! If I was capable of making art (and knew how to program a Metroidvania) I would correct that mistake myself, but...)
Golden core: another one that's hard for me to explain. The golden core is an energy receptacle, basically? It's within the body--created out of the dantian, which is part of the traditional Chinese medicine concept of how energy flows through the body--and created after years (usually) of training and meditation. It's central to cultivation magic, and a cultivator without a golden core is deeply limited, since it exponentially expands the amount of energy that can use.
Terms of Address:
Gongzi: can be used by itself or as a suffix. A polite term of address for a wealthy young man. Sometimes can be used with a numeral modifier: as the second heir to the Lan Clan, Lan Wangji is often referred to as Lan-er-gongzi prior to his father's death (and still called that in the drama even though they changed it so his father was already dead when the flashback started, so I'm not totally sure what the contextual rules there are). These numeral uses can also stand alone if a member of a clan is referring to the second son of their clan leader. (Meaning that Lan Wangji, Nie Huaisang and Wen Chao can all be referred to as "er-gongzi" by members of their respective clans.)
Guniang: can be used by itself or as a suffix. A polite term of address for a wealthy, unmarried young woman.
A: used as a prefix or a suffix (though I only use the prefix version). When used with a given name, or a single character from a given name, it is an affectionate form of address suitable for a small child or someone to whom you are particularly close. (For example, Jiang Yanli addressing her adult younger brother Jiang Cheng as "a-Cheng" or addressing the adult Wei Wuxian as "a-Xian." Or Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants addressing the tiny child Wen Yuan as "a-Yuan.") When used with a family name, it is the dismissive address given to a servant. (In the sequence at Mo Manor, one of the family servants is spoken to and of only as a-Tong.) When used as a suffix, it's a way of expressing exasperation? I'm not totally clear on that usage, hence why I avoid using it, 'cause you can't misuse something you don't use! 🤣 In the official translation of the novel, Seven Seas Danmei capitalized the suffix ("A-Yuan" or "A-Qing") but I agree with some others I've seen talking about this on AO3, and feel it looks better in lower case.
Character doubling: one of the ways to create a nickname for someone you're very close to is to double up one of the characters in their name. This is, I believe, more commonly used in addressing children and young women. It does still sometimes get used with men, such as Jiang Yanli occasionally addressing Wei Wuxian as Xianxian. (For a non-MDZS example, in Turning Red, Mei's mother sometimes calls her Meimei.)
Er: a term that can lead to a lot of confusion (because "two" and thus "second" are also "er"), meaning child. Used as a suffix with the name of a child...and sometimes with the name of an adult, in which case it is dismissive towards the adult, particularly if the adult is a man. (Needless to say, I have Jiang Cheng's grandmother only address him as Cheng-er. Poor boy gets no respect...)
Furen: suffix only (as far as I know). Term of address for a wealthy(?) married woman. In MDZS, the typical form for a healthy relationship is to attach -furen to the family name of the husband, but if the wife disdains her husband, then she will use her own family name. (This is not how the term was actually used historically; historically, it was always the wife's family name that was used.) Thus, Yu Ziyuan, who does not get along with her husband, is addressed as Yu-furen rather than Jiang-furen, but her daughter, who dotes on her husband, is spoken of as the young Jin-furen among the people gossiping about her son's upcoming full month celebration. (There are internal inconsistencies here, actually, in that the elder Jin-furen, mother of Jin Zixuan, absolutely does not get along with her husband any more than Yu Ziyuan does (probably a lot less, in fact), but she's never called anything other than Jin-furen. I suspect the alternate use of the term may have had more to do with avoiding needing to name incidental characters like Jin-furen than anything else...)
Jiejie: standalone term or sometimes suffix, another suffix version is -jie; affectionate variation for standalone term is a-jie. Means "elder sister." Can be used with an older female of one's own generation to whom one is not related. Children are especially likely to call unrelated young women "jiejie." (Usage is very similar to the Japanese "ne-chan"/"ne-san", for those who have seen as much subtitled anime as I have. 😅)
Xiongzhang: standalone term, suffix form is "-xiong." A formal term for "elder brother." The suffix form is also used among friends of the same age group, and can be used either with their family name or their given name, depending on how familiar they're being. (This has been a bane of translators. The subtitles on Sword and Fairy 6 literally had people saying "Brother Luo" etc., as if they were 16th century Pilgrims. 😰)
Gege: standalone term or sometimes suffix, another suffix version is -ge. A less formal form of "elder brother." Can be used with an older male of one's own generation to whom one is not related, and also sometimes with one who's not necessarily older. Children are especially likely to call unrelated young men "gege," to the point that using "gege" rather than "-ge" is actually childish in some circumstances. Honestly, there seems to be a lot of cultural and social baggage regarding the use of the term which no source I've looked at has fully explained, but from its usage in the various shows I've watched, there's definitely other components beyond the literal definition. (That being said, I've mostly just used it in the simplest manner possible, either in cases of literal brothers, sworn brothers, and characters who use it canonically for specific unrelated individuals. And from small children.)
Da-ge: "eldest brother"
Er-ge: "second elder brother"
San-ge: "third elder brother"
Didi: standalone term, probably also a suffix (just linguistically speaking, it wouldn't make sense for this to be the sole exception), but I haven't seen it used as a suffix, as this term does not come up often in MDZS. Means "younger brother." I'm not sure if this can be used with younger males to whom one is not related; it never happened in any of the shows I've seen, but that doesn't mean much, really.
Er-di: "second younger brother"
San-di: "third younger brother"
Xiao-di: "youngest brother"
Meimei: standalone term, suffix form is -mei. Means "younger sister." Can be used with younger females to whom one is not related. (Again, my knowledge here is limited. But in Sword and Fairy 7, the heroine calls a slightly younger friend of hers Qing-mei, so the suffix version is definitely a thing.)
Xiao-mei: "youngest sister" (All the numbers would equally work with "-mei" of course; also with "-jie.")
Shufu: standalone term, not sure if it works as a suffix as well. Formal term meaning "uncle," specifically referring to the younger brother of one's father. Pretty sure this one is for blood relations only. (But not 100% sure...)
Shushu: standalone term or suffix, additional suffix form of "-shu." Informal term meaning "uncle." Definitely for a paternal uncle, can't recall if this is the exact informal equivalent of shufu or if it's for an elder brother of the father. In all honesty, I've mostly only encountered this as a form of address for older men not related to the speaker.
Jiujiu: standalone term, not sure if it works as a suffix as well. Means "uncle," specifically referring to the younger brother of one's mother.
Jiufu: standalone term, not sure if it works as a suffix as well. Formal address for "uncle," specifically referring to the mother's brother...though I've now forgotten if this is the formal version of jiujiu or if I made the invented sister younger than Lan Qiren. 😰 I think it's for an elder brother of the mother? (I had to look it up, since this is not one that came up in canon.) Honestly, so far I haven't even posted anything about the OC who uses this, let alone this term, but I just wanted to put it here in case I post about him later on. 😅 ...no, wait, I feel like I had someone else use this in a different work, too. Ack. I need to do a text search on all my fics now...no, wait, I remember, it was in "A Hidden Road," and given Yu Ziyuan was the third daughter, I assumed her brother(s) would be older than she was, so yeah, it means "elder brother of the mother." It may not be all that formal, then? (In which case I would need to change it for addressing Lan Qiren...ugh, more research I'll need to do to edit that monstrosity...)
Ayi: standalone term. Informal address for "aunt." I've only used it (and for that matter seen it used) as a way for a young man to address a woman of the elder generation to whom he is not related. Sort of a "being friendly with the older lady selling me food" kind of thing. 😅
Yimu: standalone term, not sure if it also works as a suffix. Formal address for a maternal aunt.
Shifu: actually, I probably don't need to explain this one, as it's pretty well-known in English-speaking circles, thanks to its inclusion in various popular media. In MDZS, it isn't used much, except by Xiao Xingchen in talking about Baoshan-sanren, and by Song Lan in addressing the (dead or dying) man who had trained him. (Uh, in the live-action version, obviously, since we don't see that in the novel.)
Zongzhu: standalone term or suffix attached to family name. Means "sect/clan leader." The official translation preferred to use Sect Leader rather than the transliterated term, but I like the sound of Lan-zongzhu better than the sound of "Sect Leader Lan," so I decided to use zongzhu instead in my fics. In MDZS, most cultivation students are being directly taught by the leaders of their clans/sects, so for the most part zongzhu takes the place of shifu.
Shijie: means "elder sect sister." (Given Wei Wuxian's sister complex regarding his shijie, Jiang Yanli, this comes up a lot. 🤣 ) Which is to say a female disciple of one's shifu who either was accepted earlier as a disciple or is older than the speaker. (Rules seem to vary from one work--or one sect--to another.)
Shixiong: means "elder sect brother." So, a male disciple of one's shifu who either was accepted earlier as a disciple or is older than the speaker. Frustratingly, there aren't any good examples in MDZS to suggest which version would be the case in-universe...though I suspect based on Wei Wuxian's reaction to Xiao Xingchen's background, it would probably be the case that it's a disciple who is accepted first, not one who is simply older. (That's how I've been treating it in my fanfic, anyway.)
Shidi: means "younger sect brother."
Shimei: means "younger sect sister." Admittedly, this did not come up in MDZS, and so far has not come up in either my fanfic or my posts, but it might at some point in the future. (Like if I want to talk about The Husky and His White Cat Shizun at any length... 😅)
Shishu: literally means "sect uncle." What it technically means is the younger sect brother of one's shifu. In canon, its only use is Wei Wuxian applying the term to Xiao Xingchen, which is sort of incorrect because he's the shidi of Wei Wuxian's mother, who died long before Wei Wuxian was old enough to receive any cultivation training, but...🤷🏻♀️ Anyway, I've also used it in one of my fics as the term used by Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian regarding the shidi of Jiang Fengmian.
Shibo: also means "sect uncle," essentially, only an elder one. But it's actually also gender neutral, so it can also mean "sect aunt" as far as I can tell. So it's basically "shixiong or shijie of my shifu," essentially. So I have Jiang Cheng's disciples use this to address both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli. (Who is, technically, Jiang Fengmian's disciple, and thus technically Jiang Cheng's shijie as well as his actual blood sister.) I am not certain if this is actually the right way for them to address Jiang Yanli (prior to her marriage) but...that's how I've been handling the situation. (I will change it if it turns out I'm wrong, of course...)
Shizhi: term for the disciples of one's sect sibling. This is entirely gender neutral, and age-neutral as far as the relationship between the self and the sect sibling. In other words, Wei Wuxian would call Jiang Cheng's disciples "shizhi," but if Wei Wuxian had disciples of his own, Jiang Cheng would also call those disciples "shizhi."
Popo: standalone or suffix. A term meaning "grandmother." In my writing, used almost exclusively for older women not related to the speaker, as it's also a familiar way to address a woman of the grandparents' generation. For one's actual grandmother, I tend to just use the English, because my basic approach to transliterated terms is to use them when using the English translation would feel weird. (For example, for Jiang Cheng to address his own grandmother as "Grandmother" feels totally normal. For Wei Wuxian to address Wen-popo as "Granny" or "Granny Wen"...well, actually, no, that kind of does feel okay in English. Xiongzhang makes a better example than popo...)
Xiandu: standalone, possibly also suffix? Literally means "immortal overseer," but in context the "xian" part means "cultivator" rather than "immortal," so...this is the title of the leader of the cultivation world. In the official translation, sometimes translated as "Cultivation Chief" and sometimes as "Chief Cultivator" and I really don't like either of those as titles, so I decided to just use xiandu instead.
Daozhang: standalone or as a suffix. I'm actually at a bit of a loss on the proper meaning of this. The glossary on the official translation of MDZS said that "daozhang" means "Daoist priest." The glossary on the official translation of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, on the other hand, said that this means "cultivator." So...🤷🏻♀️ At the moment, I've used it in "A Hidden Road" to mean "Daoist priest" but about halfway through the massive fic that took me a year to write it started transitioning over to meaning "cultivator" because I saw that other glossary entry. I will have to consult with some people who actually know what they're talking about to find out which is actually correct. (And then I'll fix up whichever fic needs it. Also this glossary entry.)
Xiansheng: standalone or as a suffix. Means "teacher." (This is an archaic usage, and the word evidently now kind of just means "mister." Or that's what I read on one of the reference works on AO3, anyway.)
Sanren: suffix only, as far as I know. Indicates a wandering cultivator, and is part of a name they have taken on to represent themselves as such. Wei Wuxian's mother, Cangse-sanren, and her shifu, Baoshan-sanren, are the only MDZS canon examples.
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Okay, I think that's everything that's come up in my posts (or likely to come up in future posts), but I'll come back and add more if I think of anything else. (It's honestly kind of surprising just how much terminology I've had to soak up to be able to even think about working in the setting. Not that I've even done a very good job at working in the setting, but I have at least tried.)
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