尴尬

• Pinyin: gān gà
• Hanzi breakdown: 尴 = 尢 + 监 (awkward — phonosemantic); 尬 = 尢 + 介 (awkward — both characters are rare standalone)

Meaning

Awkward; embarrassing; uncomfortable. Describes a feeling of social discomfort or an awkward interpersonal situation.

One of the most commonly used informal-to-neutral terms in modern Chinese. Can describe a person's emotion (感到尴尬 — feel awkward), a situation (尴尬的局面 — an awkward situation), or a predicament (处境尴尬 — in a difficult position). Widely used in internet language.

Examples

1. 他在众目睽睽之下说错了主持人的名字，现场气氛顿时变得十分尴尬，沉默了好几秒钟。 In front of everyone, he said the host’s name wrong, and the atmosphere instantly turned awkward, with several seconds of silence.
2. 两人在走廊相遇后沉默片刻，都不知如何开口打破这令人窒息的尴尬僵局。 After running into each other in the hallway, the two fell silent for a moment, neither knowing how to break the suffocating awkwardness.
3. 这件事让她陷入了一种极为尴尬的处境——无论做出哪种选择，都难以同时兼顾各方利益。 It put her in an extremely awkward position—no matter what she chose, it was hard to satisfy everyone’s interests at the same time.

Usage Guide

Context: everyday, social, internet

Tone: light

Do Say

• 会议上他不小心把水杯碰翻溅湿了文件，场面一时颇为尴尬，但大家随即笑着帮忙处理了。(At the meeting he accidentally knocked over his water glass and wet the documents — the moment was quite awkward, but everyone quickly laughed it off and helped clean up.)
• 当被问到个人薪资状况时，他微微停顿了一下，笑着说这个问题实在有些尴尬，不便作答。(When asked about his personal salary, he paused briefly and said with a smile that the question was rather awkward and he preferred not to answer.)

Don't Say

• 这道数学题很尴尬 — 尴尬 describes social or interpersonal discomfort, not intellectual difficulty; use 难 or 棘手 for a difficult problem

Origin & History

尴尬 = disyllabic set word; both characters rarely appear independently in modern Chinese

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal