大佬

What does 大佬 mean?

“大佬求带”, boss please carry me, is the first sentence a new Chinese player learns to type. The word it addresses began as triad slang, the Godfather figure of Hong Kong gangster cinema, and gamers borrowed it wholesale as a mark of respect. Anyone dominant qualifies: the 大神 who 带飞 an entire lobby, the 氪金大佬 funding the guild out of his own wallet, the guide writer whose builds everybody copies without credit. It stretches the other way too, into irony, and gets aimed at anyone who shows up with confidence wildly beyond their results.

Where does 大佬 come from?

Hong Kong crime cinema is the source. 大佬 there was Cantonese-flavoured Mandarin for the boss above all bosses in a triad, and mainland internet picked it up in the early 2010s while forums and games were busy absorbing that film culture. By the middle of the decade, with League of Legends and dungeon MMOs at peak popularity, it had settled into its modern job: the standard honorific for anyone visibly better than you. Respect, flattery and a touch of begging, packed into two syllables.

How to use 大佬

• 大佬求带！我负责躺。
  Dàlǎo qiú dài! Wǒ fùzé tǎng.
  Carry me, boss! I’ll be dead weight with gratitude.
• 这位大佬一个打五个。
  Zhè wèi dàlǎo yī ge dǎ wǔ ge.
  This absolute boss is taking on five at once.