WeChat

English

Etymology

Entered English no later than 2012 when the app was re-branded "WeChat" for the international market. "We" corresponds to the first character in the original Chinese name 微信 (Wēixìn, literally “micro message”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiːt͡ʃæt/

Proper noun

WeChat

1. A Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app.

Derived terms

• WeChatter

Translations

app

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微信 (zh) (Wēixìn)

• Japanese: ウェイシン, ウィーチャット
• Korean: 위챗 (wichaet)

Verb

WeChat (third-person singular simple present WeChats, present participle WeChatting, simple past and past participle WeChatted)

1. To use the app WeChat; to use the app WeChat to contact (someone).
   • 2017 April 5, Huidi Ma, Er Liu, Traditional Chinese Leisure Culture and Economic Development: A Conflict of Forces, Springer:

     The "heads bowed down" (to look at cell phones), those obsessed with cell phones, virtual chat, the Internet, and excessive WeChatting, which we see as a phenomenon everywhere, reflect attempts to overcome the loneliness and disinterest this generation feels, and to make up for their empty spiritual world through newly available technologies.

   • 2018 October 20, Leong Hou U, Haoran Xie, Web and Big Data: APWeb-WAIM 2018 International Workshops: MWDA, BAH, KGMA, DMMOOC, DS, Macau, China, July 23–25, 2018, Revised Selected Papers, Springer:

     With the development of social platforms such as micro blogging and wechatting, Chinese short text classification has great impact on public opinion analysis and sentiment mining.

   • 2019 November 5, Andy Ng, Tina Burrett, Jeffrey Kingston, Routledge:

     Wechatting American politics: Misinformation, polarization, and immigrant Chinese media

   • 2023 May 4, Amy X. Wang, Grant Cornett, “Inside the Delirious Rise of ‘Superfake’ Handbags”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     I WeChatted a seller calling herself Linda — a name that, amid others like Aadi, Aooko, Mr. Bao and Zippy, made her seem the least likely to scam me and/or get me placed on a C.I.A. watch list — and instantly she sent me photos of a dozen possible Triomphes.