扑克

• Pinyin: pū kè
• Hanzi breakdown: 扑 = 扌 + 卜 (hand + divination — phonetic borrowing); 克 = 十 + 口 (phonetic component in loanword)

Meaning

Poker; playing cards. Both the card game and the physical deck of cards. A loanword from English 'poker'.

扑克牌 = playing cards (the physical cards); 扑克 can refer to the game or the cards. Common games: 斗地主, 升级. Used casually in everyday contexts. 扑克脸 = poker face (expressionless face, borrowed from English).

Examples

1. 老人们在社区广场的树荫下围坐成一圈，津津有味地打着扑克，时不时爆发出一阵爽朗的笑声。 The seniors sat in a circle under the trees in the community square, absorbed in a game of cards, bursting into hearty laughter from time to time.
2. 这家公司以扑克游戏为媒介设计了一套创新的企业团建活动，旨在提升员工之间的沟通与协作能力。 This company designed an innovative team-building program using a card game as the medium, aiming to improve communication and collaboration among employees.
3. 她谈判时那张不露声色的扑克脸让对手始终无法判断她的真实底牌，令她在商业谈判中屡占先机。 Her unreadable poker face in negotiations kept opponents from ever guessing her real hand, giving her the upper hand again and again in business talks.

Usage Guide

Context: leisure, games, social, everyday

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 数据分析显示，线上扑克平台在疫情居家期间的日活跃用户数增长了近三倍，反映出民众在娱乐需求受限情况下对数字休闲方式的强烈依赖。(Data analysis shows that the number of daily active users on online poker platforms grew by nearly threefold during the stay-at-home period of the pandemic, reflecting the strong reliance of the public on digital leisure activities when entertainment options were restricted.)
• 他在与客户的饭后娱乐中刻意保持面无表情的扑克脸，以此避免因情绪流露而在轻松场合中泄露商业谈判的敏感立场。(During post-dinner entertainment with clients, he deliberately maintained an expressionless poker face to avoid revealing sensitive commercial negotiation positions in a relaxed setting through emotional leakage.)

Don't Say

• 扑克 refers specifically to the card game/cards — do not confuse with 麻将 (mahjong) which is a different traditional Chinese game; 扑克牌 specifies the physical cards, while 扑克 can refer to the game itself

Origin & History

Loanword from English 'poker'. 扑 (to pounce/throw oneself at — 扌 hand + 卜 divination) + 克 (to overcome,克 serving as phonetic transcription). The pairing approximates the English sound.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal