Chinesium

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Chinese +‎ -ium. Alludes to common beliefs regarding Chinese workmanship and trade practices during the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Noun

Chinesium (uncountable)

  1. (slang, derogatory, sometimes humorous) Low-quality products made in China; the imaginary worthless material used to make such products.
    The hammer was pure Chinesium, and shattered on the first strike.
    • 2002 September 6, Artemia Salina, “recommendations for a milling machine”, in rec.crafts.metalworking‎[1] (Usenet):
      Just say "no" to Chinesium!
    • 2016 February 14, Barry Beams, “Lights = manufacturers moving to non-replaceable batteries”, in rec.bicycles.tech‎[2] (Usenet):
      The Oculus uses 26650 4.5 amp hour (guaranteed minimum capacity, not some Chinesium fiction) or any 18650 size you want if you're into being super-light weight for a self contained battery superbeam kind of light.
    • 2017 May 8, Clocky, “12V UV Germicidal Light Bulb”, in aus.electronics‎[3] (Usenet):
      Dunno, they work well enough and it hasn't failed, that's a pretty high standard for Chinesium stuff.
    • 2020 May 18, andrewwayc...@gmail.com, “315M DPSS laser issues, fringe movement”, in alt.lasers‎[4] (Usenet):
      I have eliminated the possibility of table, pump, or fan movement- as my cheapo chinesium diode laser settles just fine in no time.
    • 2022 November 24, Mostowski Collapse, “"Without loss of generality" may not be formalizable”, in sci.math‎[5] (Usenet):
      Hey Wonky Man is your DC Proof tool made of chinesium? It seems to be extremly fragile, can even not prove the simplest things. And how do you think the Pigeonhole principle is formulate in a SAT Solver?
    • 2023 January 10, Phil Hobbs, “Logic analyzers”, in sci.electronics.design‎[6] (Usenet):
      Sooo, I'm considering buying something a bit better than our $8 Chinesium knockoff. Suggestions?
    • 2025 January 31, Moon Channel, 58:33 from the start, in Why Do War Thunder Players Leak Classified Information?‎[7], via YouTube, archived from the original on 28 February 2025:
      We do the same thing with the Chinese: the new Chinese jet is a stealth fighter with incredible capabilities and it's a real threat and we are falling behind and the Chinese drone swarms are going to destroy us all. But also, the jet needs two engines and it's so big and dumb and it's Chinese so it must be from Temu or made of Chinesium scrap metal.

See also

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