Help me identify this Chinese word?

Question

I was in Shanghai on a business trip several weeks ago. One evening, while my coworker and I were walking down Nanjing Road on the way back to our hotel, we were accosted my many ladies of the night offering their services.

Not having any interest in whatever devilry might await us should we accept their offer, we simply said "No" repeatedly in English, but that didn't seem to get the point across very well.

Later, my coworker asked our translator about the encounters, and how he could say "Go away!" or "Leave!" in Chinese. Our translator told him, with a slight smile, that he could use a word that phonetically sounds like "gwen". When asked what it meant, he said simply, "Fuck off!".

What would this Chinese word actually be (what is the hanzi in Simplified Chinese)? And is the meaning as strong as our translator suggests?

Answer 1

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/266/

滾 /gun3/

[1] [v] roll; rotate; trundle

[3] [v] piss off; get out; beat it

滾 / 滚

Apparently, telling someone to "走开" (walk away) is not forceful enough. Your translator was suggesting you should tell them to "滚开 (roll away /piss off)" like an egg to express your displeasure.

In fact, there's actually a phrase "滚蛋" means exactly that.

滚 (roll) = 滚开(roll away)

I recommend against such a brunt language. To turn down the ladies of the night, you could simply say " 没兴趣"(not interested)/mei2 xing4 qu5/

If you ask: "Why is 滚开 more forceful than 走开?" The answer is, it would be natural for people already on the ground or on their knees to roll away. Saying 滚开 implies you are in a dominating position.

Answer 2

That would be 滚 gun3, pronounced gw-un often said by girls angry with their boyfriends! Can just be Get lost!

http://ce.linedict.com/dict.html#/cnen/entry/e6c39bd11f7c4943a176654779a1b445

Edit: just thought, on the whole it does make Gwen a rather unfortunate name in China! 你叫什么？ What's your name? 滚。 Gwen.

Answer 3

You're thinking of 滚, with the 3rd tone. gun3. This is a rather derogatory character that should be extremely rarely used, for when you want someone to, as you stated, fuck off.

The meaning is indeed as strong as your translator suggests. It's really rude and disrespectful.