What does 绝绝子 mean?

绝绝子 is the poster child of the ABB-pattern Gen Z slang trend that swept Chinese social media in the early 2020s. The pattern: take an adjective, double it, and add 子 as a cute suffix. 绝 (amazing) → 绝绝子 (absolutely incredibly amazingly good).

This linguistic trend is both wildly popular and deeply controversial. On 小红书 (Xiaohongshu/RED), China’s lifestyle and shopping platform dominated by young women, 绝绝子 is everywhere — food is 绝绝子, makeup is 绝绝子, hotels are 绝绝子, everything worth praising is 绝绝子. The doubled syllable + 子 creates a bubbly, enthusiastic, slightly childlike tone that its users find warm and expressive.

But the backlash is real. Many Chinese — particularly older generations and men — find the 子-suffix trend irritating, infantile, and linguistically lazy. Critics call it 语言污染 (language pollution). The debate over 绝绝子 became a minor culture war, with some arguing it represents the degradation of Chinese expression.

Other words in this ABB-子 family include: 好喝子 (delicious drink, but cute), 好看子 (good-looking, but cute), and 难吃子 (tastes bad, but cute). The 子 suffix transforms any adjective into Gen Z internet-speak.