Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 拍马屁 (pāi mǎpì) to kiss up to

拍马屁  (pāi mǎpì) To kiss up to; to butter somebody up; to brown-nose

Usage:

 

这个词起源于一个古代风俗，相传元朝时的蒙古人，每家都养有几匹马。两人牵马相遇，都要拍拍对方 马的屁股，摸摸马膘，并随口夸奖：“好马！好马！”以此来博得马主人的欢心。但是后来，有的人不管别人的马好坏、强弱，都只是称赞，把劣马也说成是好马 了。所以，后来“拍马屁”就指不顾客观现实，一味夸赞、奉承来讨好别人。经常拍马屁的人也被称为“马屁精”。用法上，可以说“拍××的马屁”或“给××拍 马屁”。

In the Yuan Dynasty, each Mongolian family had a few horses. When two people met each other leading their horses, they always patted the crupper and touched the fat of the other’s horse with a casual praise “Good horse!” in order to win the hearts of horse owners. But later on, there were some people who didn’t care about the horse was strong or not just giving compliment. “拍马屁（pāi mǎpì）” means someone praises a lot to please others without regarding the reality. We can call that kind of peole suck-up “马屁精（mǎpì jīng）”. It can also be expressed as “拍××的马屁（pāi××de mǎpì）”or“给××拍马屁（gěi××pāi mǎpì）”.

Sentences：

 

1、Tā méi shénme zhēn běnshi ,jiù huì pāi lǐngdǎo de mǎpì.
他没什么真本事，就会拍领导的马屁。

He doesn’t have any real ability, but only to butter boss up.

 

2、Qíshí, “pāimǎpì ”yě shì hěn xūyào jìqiǎo hé fāngfǎ de, fǒuzé mǎpì jìu huì pāi dào mǎtuǐ shàng.
其实，“拍马屁”也是很需要技巧和方法的，否则马屁就会拍到马腿上。

In fact, brown-nosing also requires great skill and method. Otherwise, you will flatter others without achieving the desired purpose.