Conceptual Broadening of ‘Kai-X’ Internet Slang: A Cognitive Metaphor Analysis

In recent years, the "Kai-X" type of internet neologisms (e.g., kaihei "team up for gaming," kaigua "use hacks") has exhibited a clear trend of semantic generalization. The usage of these expressions has expanded beyond their original domain of online gaming to encompass everyday life, social discourse, and various public spheres. This study, grounded in the framework of cognitive metaphor theory and supported by relevant corpus data, investigates the specific manifestations of semantic generalization in such expressions, the metaphorical projection mechanisms that underlie them, and the broader impact of this phenomenon on the Chinese lexical system. By examining representative examples such as kaihei, kaigua, and kaipen, the study finds that the semantic expansion of these terms is primarily driven by metaphorical mapping—namely, the projection from a concrete source domain to more abstract target domains. This process enables semantic abstraction, value re-assignment, and drift. The widespread dissemination and usage of these generalized expressions not only enhance the expressive capacity of the language but also exert a profound influence on the structure of the Chinese lexicon and its semantic network.