This glossary will be updated as the story goes along, I’ll mostly be trying to include frequently mentioned locations and terminology for overall reference. The stuff included in here will come from the footnotes, and also include some terms that are not specifically mentioned in footnotes. May contain spoilers, but I’ll try my best to censor/filter those out.
Locations
Tianxing 天行国 — the country that the whole story takes place in, the Wu family are from Tianxing
Gaoling City 高陵城 — a city in Tianxing where Wu Ruo and his extended family live in
Shuqing Garden 舒青院 — the individual plot of land that Wu Ruo’s direct family stays in. The name means “comfortable Qing” with the Qing being the same character from Wu Ruo’s father’s name (乌前青).
Huangdu 皇都 — the capital city of Tianxing, the name literally means ‘capital city’.
Terms of Address (Family)
伯伯 (bobo) — father’s older brother
伯母 (bomu) — wife of father’s older brother
叔叔 (shushu) — father’s younger brother
婶婶 (shenshen) — wife of father’s younger brother
姑姑 (gugu) — father’s sister (both older and younger)
堂 (tang) prefix — refers to cousins on father’s side of the family
表 (biao) prefix — refers to cousins on mother’s side of the family
哥 (ge) — older brother/male
弟 (di) — younger brother/male
姐 (jie) — older sister/female
妹 (mei) — younger sister/female
小-prefix (xiao) — diminutive prefix to indicate affection/endearment, used by an older person towards a younger person. Can be used by family members or close friends.
儿-suffix (er) — diminutive suffix to indicate affection/endearment, used by an older person towards a younger person. Can be used by family members or close friends.
夫君 (fujun) — a dated, respectful way of referring to one’s husband
Commonly Used Titles
师父 (shifu) — used to address the male teacher who imparts his expertise upon you. Generally, the knowledge that he has belongs specifically to the sect/clan that he comes from, and people outside of it will not be well-versed in it. Translated as ‘master’ before chapter 61. Normally when you become someone’s disciple, you are considered part of their sect/clan as well.
夫人 (furen) — used to address someone’s wife. In Loser Wife, Wu Ruo is considered to have married into the Hei family and is known as the furen of the household despite being male. Translated as ‘madam’ before chapter 61.
少爷 (shao ye) — used to address male children (not necessarily teenaged children, could be someone in their 20s, if they haven’t inherited the position of head of house/haven’t established their own household) the of affluent families. Translated as ‘young master’ before chapter 61.
大爷 (da ye) — generally translates to something like ‘my lord’, a respectful way of addressing an older male, or male of higher status. Also refers to people like Wu Qianjing, who happens to be the oldest male of his generation in his family. Commonly used by servants or commoners to address the lord of the house they work for, or men of status they come into contact with.
General Terminology
名讳 (minghui) — the name of a respected elder or a better
妖 魔 鬼 怪 Yao, Mo, Gui, Guai (etc.) — usually Chinese fantasy creatures, but in the case of Loser Wife, they refer to other fantasy races/species of people. Often translated as demons/devils/ghosts/ghouls, I have opted to retain the pinyin in text as the connotations and nuances of the usual English translations are inaccurate here.
Mo tribe 魔族 — traits as described in text: their eyes are fully black/just the pupils, with no whites. They can possess the bodies of others.
Guai 怪 — comparable to the Western witch’s familiars, they’re a sentient animal species with high intellect and magical skills too.
Chinese time conversion
Shichen (a measurement of time equivalent to about 2 hours, each block has its own name)
Zishi 子时— 11pm to 12:59am
Choushi 丑时— 1am to 2:59am
Yanshi 寅时 — 3am to 4:59am
Maoshi 卯时 — 5am to 6:59am
Chenshi 辰时 — 7am to 8:59am
Sishi 巳时 — 9am to 10:59am
Wushi 午时 — 11am to 12:59pm
Weishi 未时 — 1pm to 2:59pm
Shenshi 申时 — 3pm to 4:59pm
Youshi 酉时 —5pm to 6:59pm
Xushi 戌时 — 7pm to 8:59pm
Haishi 亥时 — 9pm to 10:59pm
Chart for Ancient Chinese method of telling time
1 day has 12 shichen 时辰 (where 1 shichen is equivalent to 2 hours)
1 shichen has 8 ke 刻 (where 1 ke 刻 is equivalent to 15 minutes)
1 ke has 3 zhancha 盏茶 (where 1 zhancha is equivalent to 5 minutes)
1 zhancha has 2 joss sticks 炷香 (where 1 joss stick is equivalent to 2 minutes and 30 seconds)
1 joss stick has 5 fen 分 (where 1 fen is equivalent to 30 seconds), a note here that the ancient Chinese fen and modern fen is different. In modern day, 1 fen is 1 minute.
1 fen has 6 danzhi 弹指 (where 1 danzhi is 5 seconds)
1 danzhi has 10 chana 刹那 (where 1 chana is equivalent to 0.5 seconds)
Measurements
尺 (chi)— equal to 0.333 meters or 1.094 feet
斤 (jin) — contains 10 liang, or 16 old liang; equal to 0.5 kg or 1.102 pounds/lbs
寸 (cun) — equal to 0.1 chi, 3.333 centimeters or 1.312 inches
丈 (zhang) — equal to 10 chi, 3.333 meters or 3.65 yards
Item Names
万血丹 (wan xue dan) — Blood Replenishing Pills; literally ‘ten thousand blood pill’
一气丹 (yi qi dan) — Energy Replenishing Pills; literally ‘one energy pill’