囧

Introducing a Chinese emoticon:

Judging from the shape of it, you may already be able to guess the meaning of it.

The Chinese character 囧, sometimes written as 冏, originally means "bright" or "brightness shining from window". Its original meaning is rarely used now and appeared mostly in old literatures. It is pronounced "jiong" in Mandarin and "gwing" in Cantonese.

The character got 'revived' from message boards in Taiwan communities, and its epidemic-like legacy soon spread to Hong Kong, followed closely by mainland China. The appearance of 囧 "looks like a human face with astonished open-mouth and slouched eyebrows", as CNReviews has put it. i.e. It's like a frowning face ^^;;


Minus the facepalm, Kyon's face here is a good representation of 囧
Image from Random Curiosity

囧 can be used to express shock, stupefiedness, "Do not Want!", embarassment, pwned, or just as a smiley.

I've missed the last bus home! 囧

I was really 囧 not to have known that earlier.

It's so 囧 that the person I've been calling has been standing right next to me all that time


Looking at those octopus buns makes me 囧...
From Random Curiosity


囧A Gundam head at the back of a Gundam?!
From Gundam 00 official site


The quality of this posable Shana figure is just 囧
Image from AmiAmi via Danny Choo

This character has become something like a subculture, similar to orz. Speaking of orz, some people have even combined the 囧 head with orz, forming the ultimate 囧rz.

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Recently my mood has been pretty like 囧, but this won't last long as I will be going back home in the weekend. Hopefully you'll see me in a ^o^ mood instead next time.

Now seriously, that's enough of "囧" for today... 囧rz