草 (cǎo) — Holy sh*t

Example Usage

草！我的钥匙找不到了！

Holy sh*t! I can't find my keys!

Cultural Context

草 literally means 'grass', but it sounds like 操 (cào), the most common Chinese profanity. Chinese internet users adopted it as a censor-bypassing stand-in. Now it's a universal exclamation of shock, frustration, or disbelief — used across all platforms freely.