Written Cantonese

Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of a Chinese language after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. Classical Chinese was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Written vernacular Chinese first appeared in the 17th century, and a written form of Mandarin became standard throughout China in the early 20th century. Cantonese is a common language in places like Hong Kong and Macau. While the Mandarin form can to some extent be read and spoken word for word in other Chinese varieties, its intelligibility to non-Mandarin speakers is poor to incomprehensible because of differences in idioms, grammar and usage. Modern Cantonese speakers have therefore developed new characters for words that do not have characters for them and have retained others that have been lost in standard Chinese.

With the advent of the computer and standardization of character sets specifically for Cantonese, many printed materials in predominantly Cantonese-speaking areas of the world are written to cater to their population with these written Cantonese characters.

thumb|400px|right|Written Cantonese on the packaging of Hong Kong beverage brand [[Vitasoy]]

History

Early history

Before the 20th century, the standard written language of China was Classical Chinese, with a grammar and vocabulary based on the Old Chinese of the Spring and Autumn period, of the 8th to the 5th century BCE. While this written standard remained essentially static for over two thousand years, the actual spoken language diverged ever further. The formation of Yue Chinese occurred among the Han population in the Pearl River Delta across many centuries, with the main linguistic influences being the Middle Chinese of the tenth century CE, corresponding to the end of the Tang dynasty, and that of the thirteenth century CE or late Song dynasty, as well as the Tai-Kadai substrate and some influence from pre-Tang Sinitic varieties.

The first Cantonese writings belong to a literary form specific to Canton, called mukjyusyu (, Jyutping: , Hanyu Pinyin: , ), that supposedly has its roots in Buddhist chants accompanied by wooden fish. Mukjyu texts were popular light reading, their primary audience were women, as female (and overall) literacy was unusually high in that region. The Faazin Gei is an example of the "scholar and beauty" genre popular at the time, with its story set in Suzhou. Its text, while still being close to Literary Chinese, contains a lot of specific Cantonese wording and even Cantonese vernacular characters, especially in the dialogue sentences, but also in the narrative text. Other such renowned early works include Ji-Hofaa Si (, Jyutping: , "The Two Lotus Flowers") and Gamso-Jyunjoeng Saanwusin Gei (, Jyutping: , "Coral Fan and Golden-lock Mandarin-ducks Pendant").

Some sources will use only colloquial Cantonese forms, resulting in text similar to natural speech. However, it is more common to use a mixture of colloquial forms and standard Chinese forms, some of which are alien to natural speech. Thus the resulting "hybrid" text lies on a continuum between two norms: standard Chinese and colloquial Cantonese as spoken. It has been found that female gender and a middle class-income are demographic factors that promote a clear separation between standard written Chinese and written Cantonese. On the other hand, men, and both blue-collar workers and college-educated high-income demographics, are factors that tend towards a convergence to standard written Chinese. Snow wrote that the different vocabulary systems are the main difference between written Mandarin and written Cantonese.

Today those characters can mainly be found in ancient rime dictionaries such as Guangyun. Some scholars have made some "archaeological" efforts to find out what the "original characters" are. Often, however, these efforts are of little use to the modern Cantonese writer, since the characters so discovered are not available in the standard character sets provided to computer users, and many have fallen out of usage.

In Southeast Asia, Cantonese people may adopt local Malay words into their daily speech, such as using the term 鐳 leoi¹ to mean money rather than 錢 cin², which would be used in Hong Kong.

Particles

Cantonese particles may be added to the end of a sentence or suffixed to verbs to indicate aspect. There are many such particles; here are a few.

•  – "me¹" is placed at the end of a sentence to indicate disbelief, e.g. ？ Is your nickname really Raymond Lam?
•  – "ne¹" is placed at the end of a sentence to indicate a question, e.g. What is your name?
•  – "mei⁶" is placed at the end of a sentence to ask if an action is done yet, e.g. Are you done yet?
•  – "haa⁵" is placed after a verb to indicate a little bit, e.g. Eat a little bit; "haa²" is used singly to show uncertainty or unbelief, e.g. ? What? Is that so?
•  – "gan²" is placed after a verb to indicate a progressive action, e.g. I'm eating an apple.
•  – "zo²" placed after a verb to indicate a completed action, e.g. I ate an apple.
•  – "saai³" placed after a verb to indicate an action to all of the targets, e.g. I ate all the apples.
•  – "maai⁴" is placed after a verb to indicate an expansion of the target of action, or that the action is an addition to the one(s) previously mentioned, e.g. I'll go after I finish eating the rest. ("eating the rest" is an expansion of the target of action from the food eaten to the food not yet eaten); You can go first. I'll eat before going. (The action "eating" is an addition to the action "going" which is previously mentioned or mutually known.)
•  – "waa¹ / waa³" interjection of amazement, e.g. Wow! That's amazing!
•  – "gaa³ laa¹" is used when the context seems to be commonplace, e.g., Everyone is like that.
•  – "ze¹ maa³" translates as "just", e.g. I just have two pages of homework left to do.

Loanwords

Some Cantonese loanwords are written in existing Chinese characters.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+Examples

!Written Cantonese

!Jyutping

!Cantonese pronunciation

!English word

!English Pronunciation

!Written Mandarin

|-

|

|baa¹ si²

|

|bus

|

|公車 (Taiwan)<br>公共汽車、公交車 (Mainland China)

|-

|

|dik¹ si²

|

|taxi

|

|計程車 (Taiwan)<br />出租車 (Mainland China)<br />德士 (Singapore/Malaysia)

|-

|

|do¹ si⁶

|

|toast

|

|吐司

|-

|

|zyu¹ gu¹ lik¹

|

|chocolate

|

|巧克力

|-

|

|saam¹ man⁴ zi⁶

|

|sandwich

|

|三明治

|-

|

|si⁶ do¹

|

|store

|

|商店

|-

|士巴拿

|si⁶ baa¹ naa²

|

|spanner (wrench)

|/ˈspæn.ə(ɹ)/

|扳手

|-

|

|si⁶ do¹ be¹ lei²

|

|strawberry

|

|草莓

|-

|

|be¹ lei²

|

|pear

|

|梨子

|-

|

|saa¹ si⁶

|

|SARS

|

|嚴重急性呼吸道症候群<br>非典 (Mainland China)

|-

|

|baai¹ baai³

|

|bye bye

|

|再見

|-

|BB

|bi⁴ bi¹

|

|baby

|

|嬰兒

|-

|菲林

|fei¹ lam²

|

|film

|

|膠卷

|-

|菲屎

|fei¹ si²

|

|face (reputation)

|/feɪs/

|面子

|-

|三文魚

|saam¹ man⁴ jyu⁴

|

|salmon

|

|鮭魚

|-

|沙律

|saa¹ leot⁶

|

|salad

|/ˈsæləd/

|沙拉

|-

|褒呔

|bou¹ taai¹

|

|bowtie

|/bəʊˈtaɪ/

|蝴蝶型領結

|-

|飛

|fei¹

|

|fee (ticket)

|/fiː/

|票

|-

|波

|bo¹

|

|ball

|/bɔːl/

|球

|-

|哈囉

|haa¹ lou³

|

|hello

|/həˈləʊ/

|哈囉

|-

|迷你

|mai⁴ nei²

|

|mini

|/ˈmɪni/

|小

|-

|摩登

|mo¹ dang¹

|

|modern

|/ˈmɒdən/

|時尚、現代

|-

|肥佬

|fei⁴ lou²

|

|fail

|/feɪl/

|不合格

|-

|咖啡

|gaa³ fe¹

|

|coffee

|/ˈkɒfi/

|咖啡

|-

|OK

|ou¹ kei¹

|

|okay

|/ˌəʊˈkeɪ/

|可以

|-

|咭

|kaak¹

|

|card

|/kɑːd/

|卡

|-

|啤牌

|pe¹ paai²

|

|poker

|/ˈpəʊkə/

|樸克

|-

|基

|gei¹

|

|gay

|/ɡeɪ/

|同性戀

|-

|(蛋)撻

|(daan⁶) taat¹

|()

|(egg) tart

|/tɑːt/

|(蛋)塔

|-

|可樂

|ho² lok⁶

|

|cola

|/ˈkəʊ.lə/

|可樂

|-

|檸檬

|ning⁴ mung¹

|

|lemon

|/ˈlɛmən/

|檸檬

|-

|扑成

|buk¹ sing⁴

|

|boxing

|/ˈbɒksɪŋ/

|拳擊

|-

|刁時

|diu¹ si²

|

|deuce

|

|(before the final game of tennis) 平分

|-

|干邑

|gon¹ jap¹

|

|cognac

|

|法國白蘭地酒

|-

|沙展

|saa¹ zin²

|

|sergeant

|

|警長

|-

|士碌架

|si³ luk¹ gaa²

|

|snooker

|

|彩色檯球

|-

|士撻(打)

|si³ taat¹ (daa²)

|

|starter

|

|啟輝器

|-

|士啤

|si³ be¹

|

|spare

|

|後備，備用

|-

|士啤呔

|si³ be¹ taai¹

|

|spare tire

|

|備用輪胎<br>Often used to describe people with waist and abdomen fat

|-

|士的

|si³ dik¹

|

|stick

|

|手杖，拐杖

|-

|士多房

|si³ do¹ fong⁴

|

|storeroom

|

|貯藏室

|-

|山埃

|saan¹ aai¹

|

|cyanide

|

|氰化物

|-

|叉(電)

|caa¹ (din³)

|

|(to) charge

|

|充電

|-

|六式碼

|luk³ sik¹ maa²

|

|Six Sigma

|

|六西格瑪

|-

|天拿水

|tin¹ naa⁴ seoi²

|

|(paint) thinner

|

|稀釋劑，溶劑

|-

|比高

|bei² gou¹

|

|bagel

|

|過水麵包圈 (Mainland China)

貝果 (Taiwan)

|-

|比堅尼

|bei² gin¹ nei⁴

|

|bikini

|

|比基尼泳裝

|-

|巴士德消毒

|baa¹ si¹ dak¹ siu¹ duk⁶

|

|pasteurized

|

|用巴氏法消毒過的

|-

|巴打

|baa¹ daa²

|

|brother

|

|兄弟

|-

|巴黎帽

|baa¹ lai⁴ mou²

|

|beret

|

|貝雷帽

|-

|巴仙

|baa¹ sin¹ / pat⁶ sen¹

| /

|percent

|

|百分之

趴(Taiwan)

|-

|古龍水

|gu² lung⁴ seoi²

|

|cologne

|

|科隆香水 (Mainland China)

|-

|布冧

|bou³ lam¹

|

|plum

|

|洋李，李子，梅

|-

|布甸

|bou³ din¹

|

|pudding

|

|布丁

|-

|打令

|daa¹ ling²

|

|darling

|

|心愛的人

|-

|打比(打吡)

|daa² bei²

|

|derby

|

|德比賽馬

|-

|卡

|kaa¹

|

|car

|

|（火車）車廂

|-

|卡式機

|kaa¹ sik¹ gei¹

|

|cassette

|

|盒式錄音機

|-

|卡士

|kaa¹ si²

|

|1. cast<br>2. class

|

|1. 演員陣容<br>2. 檔次，等級；上品，高檔，有品味

|-

|卡通

|kaa¹ tung¹

|

|cartoon

|

|動畫片，漫畫

|-

|卡巴

|kaa¹ baa¹

|

|kebab

|

|烤腌肉串

|-

|甲巴甸

|gaap³ baa¹ din¹

|

|gabardine

|

|華達呢

|-

|呢

|le¹

|

|level

|

|級，級別

|-

|叻㗎

|lek¹ gaa⁴

|

|lacquer

|

|清漆

|-

|仙

|sin¹

|

|cent

|

|分

|-

|他菲亞酒

|taa¹ fei¹ aa³ zau²

|

|tafia

|

|塔非亞酒

|-

|冬甩

|dung¹ lat¹

|

|doughnut

|

|炸麵餅圈 (Mainland China)

|-

|奶昔

|naai² sik¹

|

|milkshake

|

|牛奶冰淇淋

|-

|安士

|on¹ si²

|

|ounce

|

|盎司，英兩，啢

|-

|安哥

|on¹ go¹

|

|encore

|

|再來一個，再演奏（Song）一次

|-

|}

Cantonese character classification

Cantonese characters are classified into one of several types:

Shared-Character Cognates

Refers to characters that are used in both Standard Chinese and Cantonese, with the Cantonese meaning sharing the same root or etymology with the Chinese meaning, although differing slightly in meaning.

{| class="wikitable"

! Character !! Jyutping !! Meaning in Written Cantonese !! Literal Meaning in Standard Chinese

!Notes

|-

| 仔 || zai² || pron. child, boy || "young animal"

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 係 || rowspan="2" | hai⁵ || copular verb, to be, is, am, are || rowspan="2" | "to tie"

|

|-

|affirmation, yes

|

|-

| 使 || sai²|| v. to need; typically used in words like 唔使 "no need" || "to cause something to happen"

|

|-

|估

|gu²

|v. to guess

|"to estimate"

|

|-

|住

|zyu⁶

|continuous aspect marker, used to indicate an ongoing action or a current state (e.g. 我戴住眼鏡 "I'm wearing glasses"

|"to stay"

|from the sense that the verb is still "staying" in action

|-

| 愛 || oi¹ || v. to want || "to love"

|

|-

|整

|zing²

|v. to do, to make, to fix

|"to gather, to make tidy, whole"

|

|-

| 曉 || hiu² || v. to know || "dawn"

|from a metaphorical usage of 曉 to mean "to understand"

|-

|除

|ceoi⁴

|v. to take off (clothes or accessories)

|"to remove, to exclude, (arithmetic) to divide"

|

|-

| 掉 || deu⁶ || v. to throw away || "to fall"

|

|-

|搞

|gaau²

|v. to play with

|"to do (usually bad things)"

|

|-

| 擠 || zai¹|| v. to place || "to squeeze"

|probably from the sense of "to squeeze into place"

|-

|鍾

|zung¹

|used in "鍾意“; v. to like

|"vessel for containing alcohol"

|from a metaphorical usage of 鍾 to mean "to concentrate one's love or attention"

|-

| 嬲 || nau¹/lau¹ || v. to be annoyed at; to be angry at || "to make fun of; to pester"

|

|-

|鬧

|naau⁶/laau⁶

|v. to scold

|"to be noisy"

|

|-

|岋/岌

|ngap⁶

|used in "岋頭/岌頭"; v. to nod

|"shaky"

|from the sense of "shaking your head"

|-

|企

|kei⁵

|v. to stand

|short for 企业 "enterprise" , also used in compounds such as 企望 ”to hope for", 企图 "to attempt to".

|from the original meaning of 企 "to to stand on one's tiptoes"

|-

| 褪 || tan³ || v. to back away || "to take off one's clothes; to discolour; to fade"

|linguist 孔仲南 explained in his 1933 book《廣東俗語考》that when people took off traditional Chinese garments in the past, they always did so by slipping the clothes backward off their shoulders, hence "褪" was colloquially adapted to mean "retreating" or "stepping back".

|-

| rowspan="4" | 執 || rowspan="4" | zap¹ || v. to pick up

| rowspan="4" |"to hold"

| rowspan="4" |

|-

|v. to tidy up

|-

|v. to close down (e.g. 執笠 "to go bankrupt and close down")

|-

|classifier, a pinch of something

|-

| 吟沉 || ngam⁴ cam⁴|| v. to mutter or grumble to oneself || "chant submerge"

|-

|度

|dou⁶

|n. place

|"degree"

|

|-

|細

|sai³

|adj. small

|"thin"

|

|-

|平

|peng⁴

|adj. cheap

|"flat"

|平 also means "fair" in Mandarin, so the meaning of "cheap" probably stemmed from "fair", as in "fair price"

|-

|耐

|noi⁶/loi⁶

|adj. taking a long time to happen

|"to endure"

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |成

| rowspan="2" |sing⁴

|adj. entire

| rowspan="2" |"to become"

| rowspan="2" |成 also means "to complete" and "to reach a certain level of"

|-

|adv. almost, nearly

|-

|齊

|cai⁴

|adv. together

|"identical, complete"

|

|-

|先

|sin¹

|adv. only then, as in 我做嗮先幫你 "Once I have finished, only then will I help you"

|"first"

|the word 先 is used differently in some southern Chinese languages. In Standard Mandarin, 先 comes before the verb, whereas in Cantonese and Teochew, it comes after the verb. For example in Standard Chinese, one would say 我先做完后帮你 "I'll first do finish, then i'll help you", whereas in Cantonese one world say 我做嗮先幫你 "I'll do finish first, then i'll help you". Therefore, "先" in Cantonese can be understood as "only then", and is also therefore a synonym to the Chinese "才".

|-

| 尋 || cam⁴ || used in "尋日" and "尋晚"; prep. yesterday || "to search"

|from the literary meaning of 尋 "before long"

|-

| rowspan="2" | 啖 || rowspan="2" | daam⁶ || classifier, a mouthful || rowspan="2" | "to eat"

| rowspan="2" |

|-

|classifier, for kisses

|-

| 拃 || zaa⁶ || classifier, a handful of || "a handspan"

|

|-

|}

Borrowings

Refers to characters that are borrowed into Cantonese for their pronunciation (a phonetic loan character, 語音假借字). Since Cantonese was historically a spoken rather than a written language, the original characters corresponding to many native Cantonese words have largely been lost. Consequently, when speakers sought to represent the language in writing, they often adopted substitute characters with identical or similar pronunciations. Alternatively, some Cantonese words may not have had original written characters to begin with, necessitating the borrowing of existing characters as substitutes.

{| class="wikitable"

! Character !! Jyutping !! Meaning in Written Cantonese !! Literal Meaning in Standard Chinese

!Etymology

|-

| 呢 || nei¹|| demonstrative pronoun, this || sentence final particle with many uses

|substrate word, possible origins:

• From Proto-Tai *najꟲ
• From Proto-Mon-Khmer *niʔ ~ nih
• From Proto-Mon-Khmer *naaj
• From Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʔneinˣ
• From Proto-Austronesian *nay

|-

| rowspan="3" | 吓 || rowspan="3" | haa⁶ || adv. a brief moment

| rowspan="3" |"to scare" (in Simplified Chinese)

| rowspan="3" |variant writing of 下 as in "一下"

|-

|adj. quite

|-

|sentence final particle, indicates a question

|-

| 緊 || gan² || progressive aspect marker, used to indicate an ongoing action that is not yet finished (e.g. 我讀緊書 "I'm reading a book") || "tight; to worry"

| probably a modification and contraction of 近處 (gan⁶ cyu³), which was used to indicate that something was happening soon, but later came to be understood as something that was ongoing and not yet finished

|-

|邊

|bin¹

|interrogative word, which, where, how

|"a side"

| -

|-

| 響 || hoeng² || v. / prep. to be at || "to ring; to sound"

|from 向

|-

|仲

|zung⁶

|adv. still

|"second in seniority"

|from 重 or 尚

|-

|聽

|ting¹

|used in "聽日"; n. / adv. tomorrow

|"to listen"

|uncertain, possible theories:

• From elision of 天光日
• From 天日, where the final -n in 天 has assimilated with 日, which used to have a /ɲ̟/ initial.

|-

|企

|kei⁵

|used in "屋企" n. a house

|short for 企业 "enterprise" , also used in compounds such as 企望 ”to hope for", 企图 "to attempt to".

|probably from taboo avoidance of Hakka "屋下", replacing "下" with "起 hei²“, which came to be written as ”企“, likely due to a pronunciation shift

|-

|v. to close off

|-

|adv. close to; e.g. 坐埋一齊 "sit close together"

|-

|adv. to completion; e.g. 食埋啲飯 "to eat the rest of the rice"

|-

|adv. away; e.g. 收埋 "to hide away"

|-

|adv. as well; e.g. 加埋呢個 ”add this as well"

|-

|淨間

|zing⁶ gaan¹

|adv. a while

|"clean between"

|variant pronunciation of 陣間 (zan⁶ gaan¹)

|-

|傾偈

|king¹ gai²

|v. to chat

|"to pour out gatha"

|possibly from 謦欬, also could just be from surface analysis of the characters themselves: 傾 (“to pour out" > "to chat") 偈 ("gatha" > "words")

|-

| 論盡 || leon⁶ zeon⁶ || adj. clumsy || "discuss finish"

|probably from 遴鈍

遴: "difficulty in travel"

鈍: "dull-witted"

|-

| rowspan="2" | 巴閉 || rowspan="2" | baa¹ bai³ || adj. arrogant || rowspan="2" | "desire close"

| rowspan="2" |uncertain, possibly a transliteration of Hindi बाप रे (baap re) "Oh my god", or from Chinese 把柄 "information that can be used against someone"

|-

|adj. impressive

|-

| 奄尖 || jim¹ zim¹|| adj. picky; fussy || "sudden sharp"

|possibly a Kra-Dai substrate word, maybe cognate with Zhuang "yimxcimx"

|-

| 核突 || wat⁶ dat⁶|| adj. disgusting || "nuclear sudden"

|perhaps from 鶻突 "unclear"

|-

|撈哨

|laau⁴ saau⁴

|adj. dressed untidily, sloppily

|"to fish out whistle"

|probably from "髝髞", a term used to describe something that was tall, or someone that had a rough temper, later evolving to describe the appearance of messy hair, from which the meaning of "dressed untidily" is derived

|-

|咧啡/哩啡

|le⁴ fe⁴

|adj. dressed untidily, sloppily; synonym of 撈哨

| -

|uncertain; from "褦裶"?

褦: "foolish"

裶: "the appearance of long clothes"

|-

|鹹濕

|haam⁴ sap¹

|adj. lecherous, lewd

|"salty wet"

|uncertain, many possible etymologies

|-

|屎忽

|si² fat¹

|n. buttocks

|"poop suddenly"

|variant writing of 屎窟

|-

|雲吞

|wan⁴ tan¹

|n. wonton (Chinese stuffed dumpling)

|"cloud swallow"

|from 餛飩

|-

| 馬騮 || ma⁵ lau¹ || n. a monkey || "a horse that is a bay horse with a black mane and a black tail"

|unknown, possible theories:

• A Kra-Dai substrate cognate with Zhuang "maxlaeuz", Lingao "ma² lu²", and Gelao mu⁶ lau²", all meaning "monkey"
• From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m(j/r)uk. Cognate with Burmese မျောက် myauk “monkey” and possibly 猱 "yellow-haired monkey”

|-

|運吉

|wan⁶ gat¹

|adj. a waste of time

|"to transport lucky"

|variant writing of 混吉, theories of origin include:

• Originating from a Hong Kong café in the 1970s. At the time, waiters would serve customers a free bowl of plain soup called “Lucky Soup” (吉湯) as soon as they sat down. Because the economy was poor, some people would drink the free soup and leave without ordering anything. Waiters called these people “混吉”, meaning "freeloading off the lucky soup; freeloaders"
• Originating from a Guangzhou restaurant in the 1960s. The restaurant gave customers free plain chicken soup, but since the word “plain, empty” (空) sounded like 凶 (inauspicious), they changed the name to “Lucky Water” (吉水). Some customers would drink the free soup and leave immediately, so waiters began calling this behavior “混吉”

|-

|麻麻地

|maa⁴ maa² dei²

|adj. so-so, mediocre

|"hemp hemp land"

| -

|}

There is also one other type of borrowing, that being of a character borrowed into Cantonese for its meaning rather than its pronunciation (a semantic loan character, 語意假借字), an example being "歪 waai¹", meaning "slanted, crooked", which acts as the character for the colloquial Cantonese word "me²", also meaning "slanted, crooked". The origin of this term is believed by Cantonese linguist Mai Yun (麦耘) to be from "佊 (MC pjeX)", which means "evil, crooked person".

Phono-Semantic Compounds

The majority of characters used in Standard Chinese are phono-semantic compounds – characters formed using two parts, or radicals; one hinting at its meaning, and one hinting at its pronunciation. Written Cantonese continues this practice, most often via putting the "mouth" radical (which indicates that it is a colloquial word) next to a character that indicates its pronunciation. As an example, the character uses the mouth radical with a , which means "brave", but has no relation to the meaning of and only indicates it's pronunciation. An exception is , which is not pronounced like its radical (joeng⁴); 羊 means "sheep" and was chosen as the radical of 咩 because the pronunciation of (me¹) resembles the sound that sheep make.

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Character

!Jyutping

!Meaning

!Standard Chinese Equivalent

|-

|

|di¹

|a bit, a bit more; e.g. 快啲 "faster!"

|点, 些

|-

| rowspan="2" |

| rowspan="2" |ge³

|possessive particle, similar to 's

| rowspan="2" |

|-

|sentence final particle, expresses agreement or surprise

|-

|

|a¹

|sentence final particle, [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%90%96] dialectical form of 啊 or 呀

|啊, 呀

|-

|

|gaa²/gaa³/gaa⁴

|sentence final particle, contraction of 嘅啊, 嘅呀, or 嘅吖

|的啊, 的呀

|-

|

|laa³

|sentence final particle, indicates a change of state/the beginning of an action or expresses surprise

|

|-

|

|laak³

|sentence final particle, used for confirmation or expresses polite refusal

|

|-

|

|wo¹

|sentence final particle, indicating surprise

|哦

|-

|喎

|wo³

|sentence final particle, used as a casual reminder or for emphasis, to express realization, to emphasise a truth that contradicts an incorrect assumption, to express sarcasm, or used for reported speech

|哦

|-

|啩

|gwaa³

|sentence final particle, indicating uncertainty

|吧

|-

|嗬

|ho²

|sentence final particle, used to ask for confirmation; for example in "你今晚會嚟嗰個晚會㗎嗬?" (you're coming to the party tonight, right?)

| -

|-

| rowspan="2" |啫

| rowspan="2" |ze¹

|sentence final particle, only, simply

|而已, 罢了

|-

|sentence final particle, used to form critical questions, e.g. "你今日去邊度啫?" (Where did you really go to today?)

|了

|-

| rowspan="3" |

| rowspan="3" |lo¹/lo³

|sentence final particle, used to indicate that something should be obvious

| -

|-

|sentence final particle, used to express impatience; for example in "快啲咁多囉" ("hurry up!")

| -

|-

|sentence final particle, used to invite agreement or sympathy; for example in "我唔知點算好囉" ("I really don't know what do to...)

| -

|-

|

|gam²

|function word, like this, e.g. ""

|这样

|-

|

|zo²

|function word, indicates past tense

|

|-

|

|me¹

|function word [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%92%A9], also a contraction of

|吗

|-

|

|dei⁶

|function word, indicates the plural form of a pronoun

|们

|-

|

|saai³

|function word, indicates completion, e.g. "moved all, finished moving"

|了

|-

| rowspan="2" |

|mai⁶

|copular verb, to not be, is not, am not, are not; contraction of 唔係 m⁴ hai⁶

|,

|-

|mai²

|imperative, no need to, don't; possibly a contraction of 唔使 m⁴ sai²

|不要

|-

|

|juk¹

|v. to move

|动

|-

|

|ngak²

|v. to deceive

|骗

|-

|

|haam³

|v. to cry

|

|-

|

|tau²

|v. to rest

|

|-

|

|saai¹

|v. to waste

|浪费

|-

| rowspan="2" |嗌

| rowspan="2" |aai³/ngaai³

|v. to yell

|喊

|-

|v. to order food

|订购

|-

|噏

|ap¹/ngap¹

|v. to babble; used in compounds like 發噏瘋 "to talk nonsense"

|说废话

|-

| rowspan="3" |

| rowspan="3" |lei⁴/lai⁴

|v. to come

| rowspan="3" | 来

|-

|particle, used to emphasise that the identity of the subject is the object, e.g. "呢隻係狗嚟嘅" (This is a dog)

|-

|adv. to, for (a purpose)

|-

|

|m⁴

|adv. not, no, cannot; indicates negation.

|

|-

|rowspan=2|

|rowspan=2|ngaam¹

|adv. just, nearly

|刚

|-

|adv. correct, suitable

|对

|-

|

|gam³

|adj. so; e.g. "做咩你咁黐線?" ("why are you so out of your mind?")

|这么

|-

|

|lek¹

|adj. smart

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |

| rowspan="2" |haai⁴

|adj. (often referring to food) very rough, coarse

|

|-

|interjection. sigh

|唉

|-

| rowspan="3" |嗱

| rowspan="3" |naa⁴

|interjection. used when giving something to someone; equivalent to "Here!"

| -

|-

|interjection. used when calling someone's attention to something; equivalent to "Look!"

| rowspan="2" | -

|-

|interjection. used to remind someone of a warning; equivalent to "See!"

|-

|

|hai²

|prep. at, in, during (time), at, in (place)

|

|-

|

|go²

|demonstrative pronoun, that, those

|

|-

|

|je⁵

|n./pron. thing, stuff

|东西,

|-

|

|gau⁶

|classifier, for chunks of something

|

|-

|

|zam⁶

|classifier, for smells

|股

|-

|𠹌

|lang¹

| rowspan="2" |only used in the compound 半𠹌𠼰 "halfway"

| rowspan="2" |一半

|-

|𠼰

|kang¹

|-

|

|kaat¹

|n. a card; transliteration of English "card"

|卡

|-

| rowspan="2" |

| rowspan="2" |mak¹

|n. mark, trademark; from English "mark"

| rowspan="2" |马克

|-

|n. a mug; from English "mug"

|-

| rowspan="2" |呔

| rowspan="2" |taai¹

|n. a necktie; from English "tie"

|領帶

|-

|n. a tyre; from English "tyre"

|胎

|-

|嗗

|gut⁴

|onomatopoeia. sound of gulping; v. to gulp down

|咕嘟

|}

Other phono-semantic characters which are not formed with the "mouth" radical () include:

{| class="wikitable"

! Character !! Jyutping !! Meaning !! Standard Chinese Equivalent

|-

| || keoi⁵ || pron. he / she / it || , ,

|-

| || lou² || pron. guy / dude || 男人

|-

|偋

|beng³

|v. to hide

|藏

|-

| || tai² || v. to see ||

|-

| || fan³ || v. to sleep (Originally ) ||

|-

|䁪

|zaam²

|v. to blink

|眨

|-

| rowspan="2" |𥋇

|caang³

|v. to open the eyes wide

|睁大

|-

|caang⁴

|adj. dazzling, blinding

|刺眼

|-

| || lo² || v. to take / to get / to hold ||

|-

| || ling¹ || v. to carry / to hold (usually for bags) ||

|-

| || nik¹/lik¹ || v. to hold (usually for lighter objects) ||

|-

| rowspan="3" | || rowspan="3" | zaa¹ || v. to grasp ||

|-

| v. to drive ||

|-

| v. to squeeze ||

|-

| || zit¹ || v. to squeeze out ||

|-

| || wan² || v. to find ||

|-

| || caau³ || v. to rummage through with one's hands ||

|-

| || gaan² || v. to pick ||

|-

| || mang¹ || v. to pull ||

|-

| rowspan="3" | || dim³ || v. to touch ||

|-

| rowspan="2" |dim⁶

|adj. straight, upright

|直

|-

|adj. good; for example "呢個人做嘢唔掂" (This person is not really good at his work")

|好

|-

| || fing⁶ || v. to fling ||

|-

| || deng³ || v. to throw ||

|-

| || pek⁶ || v. to throw away / to discard ||

|-

| rowspan="3" | || rowspan="3" | dam² || v. to throw / to discard ||

|-

| v. to drop someone off ||

|-

| v. to pound ||

|-

| || dap⁶ || v. to pound ||

|-

| || pok¹ || v. to hit / to strike ||

|-

| || kok¹ || v. to knock ||

|-

| || ung² || v. to push ||

|-

| || waa²/we² || v. to scratch with one's hands ||

|-

| rowspan="3" |𢯎

| rowspan="3" |ngaau¹

|v. to scratch an itch

|

|-

|v. to seek

|找

|-

|v. to steal

|偷

|-

| || zeot¹ || v. to rub ||

|-

| || haai¹ || v. to brush against (e.g. "個嗰架的士揩到我架車") ||

|-

| rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | mit¹ || v. to tear / to peel ||

|-

| v. to pinch with one's fingers ||

|-

| || gam⁶ || v. to press ||

|-

| || tan⁴ || v. to shiver (used in compounds such as "揗雞" and "揗揗震") ||

|-

|𢳂

|bat¹

|v. to scoop

|舀

|-

|掗

|ngaa⁶

|v. to occupy

|占

|-

| || dam⁶ || used in compounds such as "𨂽腳"; v. to stomp one's foot ||

|-

| || o¹ || v. to pass urine or faeces ||-

|-

| || laai⁶ || v. to pass urine or faeces involuntarily ||-

|-

|滮

|biu¹/piu⁴

|v. to spurt out, to emerge suddenly

| -

|-

|淝

|fe⁴

|v. to spray

|喷

|-

|𦧲

|loe¹

|v. to spit

|吐

|-

| || nam²/lam² || v. to think ||

|-

| || nam⁴/lam⁴ || adj. soft ||

|-

|黐

|ci¹

|v. / adj. to stick, sticky

|黏

|-

| || leng³|| adj. pretty / handsome, nice ||

|-

|癲

|din¹

|adj. insane

|疯

|-

| || lei⁶ || n. tongue ||

|-

|晏

|aan³/ngaan³

|n. / adv. late in the day, later

| -

|-

| || deng⁶|| n. a place ||地方

|-

| || po¹|| classifier, for plants ||

|-

| || gui⁶ || adj. tired (more commonly written as "攰") ||

|-

| || pet³|| classifier, for soft masses, e.g. dirt, faeces ||

|-

| || ngaak²|| n. a bracelet (can more specifically mean a bangle) ||

|-

|舖

|pou³

|n. a store

|店

|-

|𨋢

|lip¹

|n. a lift, an elevator; from English "lift"

|电梯

|-

| rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | luk¹|| n. a wheel ||

|-

| v. to roll (more commonly written as "碌" in this sense) ||

|-

| rowspan="3" | || rowspan="2" | lam¹|| n. a flower bud ||

|-

|v. to coax

|哄

|-

| lam³|| v. to topple over ||

|-

| rowspan="4" |冚

| rowspan="2" |kam²

|v. to cover up

|盖

|-

|v. to slap someone in the face

|批

|-

| rowspan="2" |ham⁶

|adj. all, entire

|全

|-

|adj. (of openings) tight, firm

|紧

|-

|窿

|lung¹

|n. a hole, also used in compounds such as 窿窿罅(laa³)罅 "nook and cranny"

|洞

|-

| || mang² zang² || adj. irritated ||

|}

Non-Phono-Semantic Compounds

Characters which are not phono-semantic compounds include:

{| class="wikitable"

! Character !! Jyutping !! Meaning !! Standard Chinese Equivalent

!Type of Character

|-

| || mou⁵ || v. to not have ||

|Ideogram, formed by removing the two strokes inside of “有"; "有" means "to have"

|-

| || mat¹ || pron. what (Originally ) ||

| -

|-

| || bei² || v. to give (occasionally written as 俾) ||

|Pictogram of an arrow with a flat arrowhead

|-

| rowspan="2" |氹

| rowspan="2" |tam⁴

|n. puddle, pit, trap

|坑

| rowspan="2" |Uncertain, probably ideogram

|-

| used in "氹轉"; v. to spin, to go round and round ||

|-

|孻

|laai¹

|used in "孻仔"; n. the youngest child; also used in "孻尾" and "孻面"; prep. behind, last

|后面

|Compound ideogram, 子 (“son”) + 盡 (“end; finish”). "孻" originally meant "the youngest son of an old parent", i.e. "the last son"

|-

| || gaat⁶ zaat² || n. cockroach ||

|Uncertain, perhaps a modification of the character "甲" (gaap³)?

|}

The words represented by these characters are also sometimes cognates with pre-existing Chinese words. However, their colloquial Cantonese pronunciations have diverged from formal Cantonese pronunciations. For example, ("without") is normally pronounced mou⁴ in literature. In spoken Cantonese, mou⁵ has the same usage, meaning, and pronunciation as , except for tone. represents the spoken Cantonese form of the word "without", while represents the word used in Classical Chinese and Mandarin. However, is still used in some instances in spoken Cantonese, such as ("no matter what happens"). Another example is the doublet , which means "come". loi⁴ is used in literature; lei⁴ is the spoken Cantonese form.

Workarounds

Although most Cantonese words can be found in the current encoding system, input workarounds are commonly used both by those unfamiliar with them, and by those whose input methods do not allow for easy input (similar to how some Russian speakers might write in the Latin script if their computing device lacks the ability to input Cyrillic). Some Cantonese writers use simple romanization (e.g. using "la" to represent "喇"), symbols (e.g. adding a Latin letter "o" in front of "係" to represent "喺"; using "D" to represent "啲"), homophones (e.g. using "果" to represent "嗰"), or a character that is similiar in form and pronunciation (e.g. using "野" to represent "嘢") in place of certain characters. For example,

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! style="text-align:center;"|Sentence

! 你

! 喺

! 嗰喥

! 好

! 喇,

! 千

! 祈

! 唔愛

! 搞

! 佢

! 啲

! 嘢。

|-

! Substitutions

| 你

| o係

| 果度

| 好

| la,

| 千

| 祈

| 唔愛

| 搞

| 佢

| D

| 野。

|-

! Jyutping

| nei5

| hai2

| go2 dou6

| hou2

| laa3

| cin1

| kei4

| m4 oi3

| gaau2

| keoi5

| di1

| je5

|-

! Gloss

| you

| being

| there

| good

| FP

| thousand

| pray

| don't

| mess with

| he/she

| bit

| things/stuff

|-

! Translation

| colspan="12" | "You'd better stay there, and under no circumstances mess with his/her stuff."

|}

Profanities

See Cantonese profanity.

See also

• Cantonese braille
• Hong Kong Sign Language
• Written Hokkien
• Saam kap dai
• 粵語本字表

References

• Snow, Donald B. Cantonese as Written Language: The Growth of a Written Chinese Vernacular. Hong Kong University Press, 2004. , 9789622097094.

Notes

Further reading

External links

• Chinese and English phrase book: with the Chinese pronunciation indicated in English by Benoni Lanctot, published in 1867
• Vocabulary of the Canton Dialect: Chinese words and phrases by Robert Morrison (missionary), published in 1828
• S. L. Wong's A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced according to the Dialect of Canton, by the CUHK
• A Chinese Talking Syllabary of the Cantonese Dialect: An Electronic Repository, by the CUHK
• Modern Standard Mandarin and Cantonese conversion, by the CUHK
• Yueyu.net
• Learn Cantonese! Cantonese learning, including Cantonese characters