gānzhènán

Meaning:

“甘蔗” means “sugarcane,” and “男” refers to “man.” Coined by Chinese netizens, this term frequently mentioned on Douyin, a video-sharing social media platform, refers to the kind of men who pretend to be caring and sweet at the beginning of a romantic relationship when they are pursuing a woman, but soon reveal who they really are when the woman becomes their girlfriend. Irresponsible and selfish, this type of men disguise themselves as good family men when they try to woo the opposite sex. The metaphor of sugarcane points to the fact that the fruit with its juicy and sweet taste will inevitably end up in dry fibrous residues.

Example:

A: 怎么最近没见到小花的男朋友接她下班？

Zěnme zuìjìn méi jiàndào xiǎohuā de nánpéngyou jiē tā xiàbān？

Xiao Hua’s boyfriend hasn’t picked her up after work for a while. What’s up?

B: 小花说他是个甘蔗男，已经分手了。

Xiǎohuā shuō tā shì ge gānzhènán，yǐjīng fènshǒu le。

She said he’s irresponsible and selfish and just pretended to be nice when he went after her. They already broke up.