| gay | inside | gay | gas; air; smell | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (gay裡gay氣/gay裏gay氣) | gay | 裡/裏 | gay | 氣 | |
| simp. (gay里gay气) | gay | 里 | gay | 气 | |
Applying English gay in the general pejorative construction ……裡……氣／……里……气 (...lǐ...qì), which was originally the ……裡……/……里…… (...lǐ...)-augmented reduplication of disyllabic adjectives ending in 氣／气 (qì, “manner; air”); cf. the following examples:
| 怪 (guài, “strange”) | → | 怪氣／怪气 (“weird”) | → | 怪裡怪氣／怪里怪气 (guàiliguàiqì, “weird”) |
| 傻 (shǎ, “foolish”) | 傻氣／傻气 (shǎqì, “silly”) | 傻裡傻氣／傻里傻气 (shǎlishǎqì, “looking stupid”) | ||
| 土 (tǔ, “rustic”) | 土氣／土气 (tǔqì, “rustic”) | 土裡土氣／土里土气 (tǔlitǔqì, “looking unsophisticated”) | ||
| 流 (liú, “idling”) | 流氣／流气 (liúqì, “rascally”) | 流裡流氣／流里流气 (“hooligan-like”) |
gay裡gay氣