# 吃醋



## empress.m

I am wondering is 吃醋 same meaning as jealous? 
I know that jealous in Chinese is 妒嫉。But if a caucasion says that he/she is jealous, does that mean that he is 妒嫉 or 吃醋??

Thank you!


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## CHinphilly

吃醋 is jealous, but only used on a woman who is jealous of another because of a guy


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## kenny4528

CHinphilly said:


> 吃醋 is jealous, but only used on a woman who is jealous of another because of a guy


 
As far as I know, 吃醋 is applied to either sex. Not limited to women.


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## CHinphilly

I wouldn't use it on a guy. But it is nuance.


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## empress.m

Thanks!

But is jealous apply to 妒嫉 too?


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## CHinphilly

it is equivalent


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## empress.m

How am i explaint myself to someone that i am 吃醋 but not 妒嫉 in english??


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## CHinphilly

I don't understand what you are trying to say coz they are the same thing. If you are jealous, you are. You can tell this guy you want to see him happy, but not happy with her. Guess that will deliver the message. BTW, good luck. If you like somebody you say it right there, out loud, otherwise the moment will pass you by.


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## Martindehk

I think there's some slight difference between 吃醋 and 妒嫉
妒嫉: the first meaning that comes to me is that one is not happy with the chances/better treatments other have. E.g. I am jealous of my friend's promotion, then the word "妒嫉" should be used to describe how i feel.
吃醋: it means the jealous in terms of attention only. E.g. a boy thinks that his mother pays less attention to him than to his brother/sister, then he is 吃醋


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## CHinphilly

Martindehk said:


> I think there's some slight difference between 吃醋 and 妒嫉
> 妒嫉: the first meaning that comes to me is that one is not happy with the chances/better treatments other have. E.g. I am jealous of my friend's promotion, then the word "妒嫉" should be used to describe how i feel.
> 吃醋: it means the jealous in terms of attention only. E.g. a boy thinks that his mother pays less attention to him than to his brother/sister, then he is 吃醋



I still think  吃醋 is only used to describe a woman who is jealous of another woman because of a man.
 吃醋 is not so derogatory as 妒嫉
There is no point arguing here. We're all native speakers, whatever we think wouldn't change how we speak Chinese.


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## centrum

吃醋 is usually used to mean that a man or a woman is jealous of his/her rival in love, so typically there are three persons involved in the situation. I think 吃醋 is a special case of 妒嫉. In general, there may be only two parties involved in 妒嫉. For example, A is jealous (妒嫉) of B's good reputation.


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## samanthalee

Martindehk said:


> 吃醋: it means the jealous in terms of attention only. E.g. a boy thinks that his mother pays less attention to him than to his brother/sister, then he is 吃醋



The usage of 吃醋 in Singapore is closer to what Martindehk has described. We don't restrict it to women, nor do we restrict to merely romantic relationships.
We use it on siblings, pets, parents; anyone and everyone who thinks that “X 比较疼 Y 而没那么疼我。”


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## avlee

empress.m said:


> How am i explaint myself to someone that i am 吃醋 but not 妒嫉 in english??


I think there're lots of words you can use. Don't let these two words mislead you.
If I were asked to pick up a word to express the quoted meaning, I may use CARE, UNHAPPY, HURT sort of soft words. Yet indeed, as I'm typing down these words, I thought to myself that if you're not happy that someone else is staying with your soulmate, then you do feel a bit of 妒嫉. Because there's a saying going around: Jelousy is all the fun you think they had. So after further analysis as the others did above, 吃醋, to me, is defacto a sort of 妒嫉.
Hope this helps a bit.


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## On Retrouve a Paris

samanthalee said:


> The usage of 吃醋 in Singapore is closer to what Martindehk has described. We don't restrict it to women, nor do we restrict to merely romantic relationships.
> We use it on siblings, pets, parents; anyone and everyone who thinks that “X 比较疼 Y 而没那么疼我。”


 
In China also, I dont think I would restrict it to women. perhaps we see it more often in this case, but definitely we can also say that my cat 吃我新买的小狗的醋, they fight because of this - opps -


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## kareno999

CHinphilly said:


> I wouldn't use it on a guy. But it is nuance.


Well everyone else in China use it on both sex. Are you sure this is not your own preference?


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## coconutpalm

To admit to be 吃醋 is generally regarded very face-losing, by both sexes, but this doesn't mean that guys don't 吃醋.


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## Blootix

I think 吃醋 has more to do with jealousy and 妒嫉 has more to do with envy.


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## xiaolijie

coconutpalm said:


> To admit to be 吃醋 is generally regarded very face-losing, by both sexes, but this doesn't mean that guys don't 吃醋.


Quite right, men are better at not showing feelings and at pretending to be strong, and this may be the reason for some people to think the word applies only to women.


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