Some Chinese words are borrowed from English.

And some of them are just better than their English originals.

This is one of them:

"Geek" (极客 jí kè)

It's a transliteration: 极客 sounds similar to "geek."

But the two characters could also be translated as something a bit like "geek":

• 极 means "extreme" or "ultimate"

• 客 means "person" or "guest"

So a geek in Chinese is literally an "extreme person."

Which makes total sense!

And it's a much better word (in my Chinese-language-geek opinion!).

Chinese borrowed it in the 2000s.

But unlike English, in Chinese it carries only positive connotations: someone with deep technical knowledge, and passionate — even obsessed — about their topic.

Use it for: Tech enthusiasts, hackers, makers, engineers. Anyone who goes deep.

Example:

LLMs are still the exclusive territory of a small number of tech geeks and research institutions. 大模型还是少数科技极客和科研机构的专属领地。