庸俗 yōngsú vulgar
vulgar; tacky; tawdry
How to remember 庸俗: 庸 usual + 俗 social customs = vulgar.
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How it is used
- Vulgar/tawdry - lacking taste or refinement - 庸俗的笑话 (yōngsú de xiàohua) a vulgar joke; 趣味庸俗 (qùwèi yōngsú) tacky taste.
- A cultural/aesthetic put-down about crassness or philistinism, not obscenity per se.
- Contrast 低俗 (dīsú), which is more coarse/lowbrow; 庸俗 stresses banal, tasteless mediocrity.