Hong Kong Cantonese

Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family. It is the official and native language of Hong Kong. A similar dialect is also spoken in Macau, China.

Hong Kong Cantonese
香港粵語; 港式廣東話; 香港話
Native to	Hong Kong, Macau and some Overseas Communities
Region	Pearl River Delta
Ethnicity	Hong Kong people Macau people
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Yue Yuehai Cantonese Hong Kong Cantonese
Writing system	Written Cantonese Cantonese Braille
Official status
Official language in	Hong Kong  Macau
Regulated by	Official Language Division[1] Civil Service Bureau Government of Hong Kong
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	xgng
Linguist List	yue-yue
	yue-can
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-mac
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	香港粵語
Simplified Chinese	香港粤语
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiānggǎng yuèyǔ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hēung góng yuht yúh Jyutping Hoeng^1 gong^2 jyut^6 jyu^5
Hong Kong-style Cantonese
Traditional Chinese	港式粵語
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Góng sīk yuht yúh Jyutping Gong^2 sik^1 jyut^6 jyu^5
Hong Kong-Guangdong dialect
Traditional Chinese	香港廣東話
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hēung góng gwóng dūng wá Jyutping Hoeng^1 gong^2 gwong^2 dung^1 waa^2
Hong Kong-Guangzhou dialect
Traditional Chinese	香港廣州話
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hēung góng gwóng jāu wá Jyutping Hoeng^1 gong^2 gwong^2 zau^1 waa^2

Although Hong Kong people refer to the language as "Cantonese" (廣東話), publications in mainland China describe the variant as Hong Kong speech (香港話), due to the differences between the pronunciation used in Hong Kong Cantonese and that of the Cantonese spoken in neighbouring Guangdong Province where Cantonese (based on the Guangzhou dialect) is a lingua franca.

Over the years, Hong Kong Cantonese has also absorbed foreign terminology and developed a large set of Hong Kong-specific terms. Code-switching with English is also common. These are the result of British rule between 1841 and 1997, as well as the closure of the Hong Kong–China border immediately after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

History

Before the arrival of British settlers in 1842, the inhabitants of Hong Kong mainly spoke the Dongguan-Bao'an (Tungkun–Po'on) and Tanka dialects of Yue, as well as Hakka and Teochew. These languages and dialects are all remarkably different from Guangzhou Cantonese.

After the British acquired Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories from the Qing in 1841 (officially 1842) and 1898, large numbers of merchants and workers came to Hong Kong from the city of Canton, the main centre of Cantonese. Cantonese became the dominant spoken language in Hong Kong. The extensive migration from mainland Cantonese-speaking areas to Hong Kong continued up until 1949, when the Communists took over mainland China. During this period, the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong was very similar to that in Canton.

In 1949, the year that the People's Republic of China was established, Hong Kong saw a large influx of refugees from mainland China, prompting the Hong Kong Government to close its border. Illegal immigration from mainland China into Hong Kong nevertheless continued.

Movement, communication and relations between Hong Kong and mainland China became very limited, and consequently the evolution of Cantonese in Hong Kong diverged from that of Guangzhou. In mainland China, the use of Mandarin as the official language and in education was enforced. In Hong Kong, Cantonese is the medium of instruction in schools, along with written English and written Chinese.

Because of the long exposure to English during the colonial period, a large number of English words were loaned into Hong Kong Cantonese, e.g. "巴士" (/páːsǐː/), literally, "bus". Therefore, the vocabularies of Cantonese in mainland China and Hong Kong substantially differed. Moreover, the pronunciation of Cantonese changed while the change either did not occur in mainland China or took place much slower. For example, merging of initial /n/ into /l/ and the deletion of /ŋ/ were observed.

Pronunciation

In modern-day Hong Kong, many native speakers are unable to distinguish between certain phoneme pairs, causing them to merge one sound into another. Although this is often considered substandard and is frequently denounced as "lazy sound" (懶音), the phenomenon is becoming more widespread and is influencing other Cantonese-speaking regions. Contrary to popular opinion, some of these changes are not recent. The loss of the velar nasal (/ŋ/) was documented by Williams (1856), and the substitution of the liquid nasal (/l/) for the nasal initial (/n/) was documented by Cowles (1914).

List of observed shifts:[2]

• Merging of /n/ initial into /l/ initial.
• Merging of /ŋ/ initial into null initial.
• Merging of /kʷ/ and /kʷʰ/ initials into /k/ and /kʰ/ when followed by /ɔː/. Note that /ʷ/ is the only glide (介音) in Cantonese.
• Merging of /ŋ/ and /k/ codas into /n/ and /t/ codas respectively, eliminating contrast between these pairs of finals (except after /e/ and /o/): /aːn/-/aːŋ/, /aːt/-/aːk/, /ɐn/-/ɐŋ/, /ɐt/-/ɐk/, /ɔːn/-/ɔːŋ/ and /ɔːt/-/ɔːk/.
• Merging of the two syllabic nasals, /ŋ̩/ into /m̩/, eliminating the contrast of sounds between 吳 (surname Ng) and 唔 (not).
• Merging of the rising tones (陰上 2nd and 陽上 5th).[3]

Today in Hong Kong, people still make an effort to avoid these sound merges in serious broadcasts and in education. Older people often do not exhibit these shifts in their speech, but some do. With the sound changes, the name of Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank (香港恆生銀行), /hœ́ːŋ kɔ̌ːŋ hɐ̏ŋ sɐ́ŋ ŋɐ̏n hɔ̏ːŋ/, literally Hong Kong Constant Growth Bank, becomes /hœ́ːn kɔ̌ːn hɐ̏n sɐ́n ɐ̏n hɔ̏ːn/, sounding like Hon' Kon' itchy body 'un cold (痕身un寒). The name of Cantonese itself (廣東話, "Guangdong speech") would be /kʷɔ̌ːŋ tʊ́ŋ wǎː/ without the merger, whereas /kɔ̌ːŋ tʊ́ŋ wǎː/ (sounding like "講東話": "say eastern speech") and /kɔ̌ːn tʊ́ŋ wǎː/ (sounding like "趕東話" : "chase away eastern speech") are overwhelmingly popular.[4]

The shift affects the way some Hong Kong people speak other languages as well. This is especially evident in the pronunciation of certain English names: "Nicole" pronounce [lekˈkou̯], "Nancy" pronounce [ˈlɛnsi] etc. A very common example of the mixing of /n/ and /l/ is that of the word 你, meaning "you". Even though the standard pronunciation should be /nei/, the word is often pronounced /lei/, which is the surname 李, or the word 理, meaning theory. The merger of (/n/) and (/l/) also affects the choice of characters when the Cantonese media transliterates foreign names.

Prescriptivists who try to correct these "lazy sounds" often end up introducing hypercorrections. For instance, while attempting to ensure that people pronounce the initial /ŋ/, they may introduce it into words which have historically had a null-initial. One common example is that of the word 愛, meaning "love". Even though the standard pronunciation would be /ɔ̄ːi/, but the word is often pronounced /ŋɔ̄ːi/.

Unique phrases and expressions

Hong Kong Cantonese has developed a number of phrases and expressions that are unique to the context of Hong Kong. Examples are:

Table of Colloquial Cantonese Expressions

Colloquial Cantonese Expressions(pronunciation)	Literally	Colloquially	Explanation
離譜 (lei^4 po^2) Example: 佢遲咗成粒鐘，真係離譜! English: He's an hour late. So outrageous!	depart from the score	absurd/outrageous/ridiculous/illogical	music score
撞板 (jong^6 baan^2) Example: 成日都咁衝動，抵佢今次撞板。 English: He is always so impulsive, no wonder he's got into trouble this time.	conflicting beat	make mistakes/get into trouble	Beat in Cantonese Opera
串 (chuen3) Example: 你洗唔洗咁串呀! English: Do you have to be so harsh?	to string/vulgar	harsh/extreme bluntness, lack of tact	colloquial usage for police handcuffing, broadened to incorporate harsh expression generally; alternatively, by modification of the tone value for "vulgar"
是但 (si^6 daan^6) Example: A: 你想去邊度食飯？ B: 是但啦! English: A: Where do you want to go to eat? B: Anything will do!	is/yes but	whatever/anything will do/I'm easy	derived from 肆無忌憚 (si^3 mo^4 gei^6 daan^6, disregard of constraints)
冬瓜豆腐 (dung^1 gwa^1 dau^6 foo^6) Example: 你有乜冬瓜豆腐，我會好傷心㗎! English: I would be miserable if you died.	winter melon tofu	to die	votive food offerings at funerals

Loanwords

Life in Hong Kong is characterised by the blending of southern Chinese with other Asian and Western cultures, as well as the city's position as a major international business centre. In turn, Hong Kong influences have spread widely into other cultures. As a result, a large number of loanwords are created in Hong Kong and then exported to mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan. Some of the loanwords have become even more popular than their Chinese counterparts, in Hong Kong as well as in their destination cultures.

Imported loanwords

Selected loanwords[5] are shown below.

From English

Chinese Characters	Jyutping	English & Other Definitions	Mainland Chinese Mandarin	Taiwanese Mandarin
	aa^3 kaan^1	account	户口	戶口
拗撬	aau^3 giu^6	argue arguments (fights)	吵架	吵架
百家樂	baak^3 gaa^1 ngok^6	Baccarat (card game)	百家乐	百家樂
波	bo^1	ball	球	球
(跳)芭蕾(舞)	baa^1 leoi^4	ballet	(跳)芭蕾(舞)	(跳)芭蕾(舞)
繃帶	bang^1 daai^2	bandage	绷带	繃帶
(酒)吧	baa^1	bar barrister	(酒)吧 大律师	(酒)吧 大律師
啤酒	be^1 zau^2	beer	啤酒	啤酒
比堅尼	bei^2 gin^1 nei^4	bikini	比基尼	比基尼
煲呔	bou^1 taai^1	bow tie	领结	領結
保齡球	bou^2 ling^4	bowling	保龄球	保齡球
杯葛	bui^1 got^3	boycott	抵制	抵制
百家利	baak^3 gaa^1 lei^6	broccoli	西兰花	西蘭花
巴打	baa^1 daa^2	brother	兄弟	兄弟
蒲飛	pou^6 fei^1	buffet	布斐	布斐
笨豬跳	ban^6 zyu^1 tiu^3	bungee jumping	蹦极跳	蹦極跳
巴士	baa^1 si^2	bus	公交/公交车	公車/公共汽車
拜拜	baai^1 baai^3	bye	再见	再見
卡路里	kaa^1 lou^6 lei^5	calorie	卡路里	卡路里
咖啡因	gaa^3 fe^1 jan^1	caffeine	咖啡因	咖啡因
咭	kaat^1	card	卡	卡
卡通	kaa^1 tung^1	cartoon	卡通	卡通
哥士的(梳打)	go^1 si^2 dik^1	caustic soda	氢氧化钠	氫氧化鈉
芝士	zi^1 si^2	cheese	起司	起司
車厘子	ce^1 lei^4 zi^2	cherry	樱桃	櫻桃
朱古力	zyu^1 gu^1 lik^1	chocolate	巧克力	巧克力
西打酒	sai^1 daa^2	cider	果酒	果酒
雪茄	syut^3 gaa^1	cigar	雪茄	雪茄
打咭	daa^2 kat^1	clock in	打卡	打卡
俱樂部	keoi^1 lok^6 bou^6	club	俱乐部	俱樂部
甘屎(架)/屎皮/論盡	gam^1 si^4	clumsy	笨拙/笨手笨脚	笨拙/笨手笨腳
可可	ho^2 ho^2	cocoa	可可	可可
可卡	ho^2 kaa^1	coca	古柯	古柯
可卡因	ho^2 kaa^1 jan^1	cocaine	可卡因	可卡因
咖啡	gaa^3 fe^1	coffee	咖啡	咖啡
曲奇	kuk^1 kei^4	cookie	曲奇	曲奇
咕喱	gu^1 lei^1	coolie	苦力	苦力
酷哥	huk^6 go^1	cougar	酷哥/美洲狮	酷哥/美洲獅
忌廉	gei^6 lim^4	cream	克林姆	克林姆
曲(既)	kuk^1	crooked (bent) bend your knees winding road ahead zig-zag	弯曲	彎曲
咖喱	gaa^3 lei^1	curry	咖喱	咖喱
山埃	saan^1 aai^1	cyanide	山埃	山埃
打令	daa^2 ling^6	darling	打令	打令
(一)碟(餸)	dip^6	dish	一道菜	一道菜
都甩(冬甩)	dou^1 lat^1	doughnut	甜甜圈	甜甜圈
Dump(垃圾)	dam^2	dump (garbage) (In the dump/dumpster) database dump pile dump dumped by boy-/girl-friend	倒掉(垃圾)	倒掉(垃圾)
肥佬	fei^4 lou^2	fail (failure)	失败	失敗
菲林	fei^1 lam^2	film	㬵卷	膠卷
揮/爭取	fai^1	fight fight for	打架/争取	打架/爭取
Fan士	fen^1 si^2	fan (fanatic) fan (machine)	粉丝	粉絲
爹地/花打	de^1 di^4	daddy (father)	爹地	爹地
發騰	faat^3 tang^4	frightened	(被)吓到	(被)嚇到
高爾夫球	gou^1 ji^5 fu^1	golf	高尔夫球	高爾夫球
結他	git^3 taa^1	guitar	吉他	吉他
吉士	gat^1 si^2	guts (courage) encourage felt like someone just punched you in the gut	胆子/勇气 鼓励	膽子/勇氣 鼓勵
哈佬(哈囉)	haa^1 lou^3	Hello Halloween	哈啰	哈囉
漢堡包	hon^3 bou^2 baau^1	hamburger)	汉堡包	漢堡包
阿頭 (calque)	aa^3 tau^2	the head of heading to (somewhere)	领导	領導
亨里	hang^1 lei^5	honey	亨里	亨里
熱狗 (calque)	jit^6 gau^2	hotdog	热狗	熱狗
呼啦圈	fu^1 laa^1 hyun^1	hula hoop	呼啦圈	呼啦圈
雪糕	syut^3 go^1	ice-cream	冰淇淋	冰淇淋
燕梳	jin^1 so^1	insure (insurance)	保险	保險
奇異果	kei^4 ji^6 gwo^2	kiwifruit	奇异果	奇異果
𨋢	lip^1	lift (elevator)	升降机	升降機
檸檬	ning^4 mung^1	lemon	柠檬	檸檬
吉利	gat^1 lei^6	lucky (you) good luck	吉利/好运	吉利/好運
芒果	mong^1 gwo^2	mango	芒果	芒果
咪	mai^1	microphone	麦克风	麥克風
模特兒	mou^4 dak^6 yi^4	model	模特	模特
摩登	mo^1 dang^1	modern	摩登	摩登
摩打	mo^1 daa^2	motor	摩打	摩打
慕絲	mou^1 si^2	mousse	慕丝	慕絲
媽咪/媽打	maa^1 mi^4	mummy (mother)	妈咪	媽咪
尼龍	nei^4 lung^4	nylon	尼龙	尼龍
鴉片	aa^1 pin^3	opium	鸦片	鴉片
班戟	baan^1 gik^1	pancake	饼子	餅子
泊車	paak^3 ce^1	parking a vehicle	泊车	泊車
啤梨	be^1 lei^2	pear	梨子	梨子
批	pai^1	pie	馅饼	餡餅
乒乓波	bing^1 bam^1	ping-pong	乒乓球	乒乓球
布冧	bou^3 lam^1	plum	李子	李子
爆谷	baau^3 guk^1	popcorn	爆米花	爆米花
布甸	bou^3 din^1	pudding	布丁	布丁
泵	bam^1	pump	泵	泵
沙律	saa^1 leot^2	salad	沙拉	沙拉
三文魚	saam^1 man^4 jyu^2	salmon	鲑鱼	鮭魚
沙林	saa^3 lam^1	salute	敬礼	敬禮
三文治	saam^1 man^4 zi^6	sandwich	三文治	三文治
沙甸魚	saa^1 din^1 jyu^2	sardine	沙丁鱼	沙丁魚
沙士	saa^1 si^2	Sarsaparilla (soft drink) SARS	root beer: 根啤酒 SARS: 萨斯	root beer: 沙士 SARS: (非典型肺炎)沙士
桑拿	song^1 naa^4	sauna	桑拿	桑拿
私家褲	si^6 gaa^1 fu^4	scarf	颈巾	頸巾
薯乜	syu^4 mat^1	schmuck	笨蛋	笨蛋
雪利酒	syut^3 lei^6	sherry	雪利酒	雪利酒
(表演)騷	sou^1	show (performance)	(表演)秀	(表演)秀
絲打	si^1 daa^2	sister	姐妹	姐妹
梳打水	so^1 daa^2	soda	苏打水	蘇打水
梳化	sou^1 faa^4	sofa	沙发	沙發
(幾)梳乎	so^1 fu^4	relaxing (chilling) ("soft", antonym of "firm")	舒适	舒適
士巴拿	si^6 baa^1 naa^4	spanner (wrench)	扳手	扳手
士啤	si^6 be^1	spare	备用	備用
士的	si^2 dik^1	stick	拐杖	拐杖
士多(店鋪)	si^6 do^1	store	店铺	店鋪
士多啤梨	si^6 do^1 be^1 lei^2	strawberry	草莓	草莓
新地	san^1 dei^6	sundae	圣代	聖代
十卜	sap^6buk^1	Support	支持
T-恤	T- seot^1	T-shirt	T-恤	T-恤
塔羅牌	taap^3 lo^4	tarot	塔罗牌	塔羅牌
的士	dik^1 si^2	taxi	出租车 ("租车" = rental car)	計程車
呔	taai^1	tie	领带	領帶
(車)軚	taai^1	tire (tyre)	轮胎	輪胎
多士	do^1 si^2	toast	吐司	吐司
拖肥糖	to^1 fei^2 tong^2	toffee	太妃糖	太妃糖
吞拿魚	tan^1 naa^4 jyu^2	tuna	金枪鱼	金槍魚
維他命	wai^4 taa^1 ming^6	vitamin	维他命	維他命
威化(餅)	wai^1 faa^4	wafer biscuit wafer (electronics)	wafer biscuit: 感化饼干 wafer (electronics): 晶圆	wafer biscuit: 感化餅乾 wafer (electronics): 晶圓
威士忌	wai^1 si^2 gei^6	whisky	威士忌	威士忌
會(eg 佢會知)	wui^5	would (e.g. He would know)	会	會
遊艇	jau^4 teng^5	yachting (yacht)	游艇	遊艇
瑜伽	jyu^4 gaa^1	yoga	瑜迦	瑜迦
乳酪	jyu^5 lok^6	yogurt	酸奶	優格

From French

Chinese Characters	Jyutping	French	English	Mainland Chinese Mandarin	Taiwanese Mandarin
梳乎厘	so^1 fu^4 lei^4	soufflé	soufflé	梳芙厘	舒芙蕾
古龍水	gu^2 lung^4	cologne	perfume	香水	香水
冷(衫)	laang^1	laine	yarn	纱线	紗線

From Japanese

Chinese Characters	Jyutping	Japanese	Japanese Rōmaji	English	Mainland Chinese Mandarin	Taiwanese Mandarin
卡拉OK	kaa^1 laa^1 ou^1 kei^1	カラオケ	karaoke	karaoke	卡拉OK	卡拉OK
老世	lou^5 sai^3	世帯主	setainushi	chief (CEO) the Head (of a company) boss	老板	老闆
奸爸爹	gaan^1 baa^1 de^1	頑張って	ganbatte	Keep up! (studying) Come on! (cheering)	加油	加油
放題	fong^3 tai^4	食べ放題	tabe hōdai	buffet	布斐	布斐
浪漫	long^6 maan^6	浪漫/ ロマンチック	rōman	romantic	浪漫	浪漫

Exported loanwords

Into English

English	Chinese Characters	Jyutping
add oil	加油	gaa^1 yau^2
chop chop (hurry up)	速速	chuk^1 chuk^1
kowtow	叩頭	kau^3 tau^4
typhoon	颱風	toi^4 fung^1
ketchup	茄汁	ke^4 zap^1

Into Mainland Chinese Mandarin

Mandarin	Cantonese	Jyutping	English	Mandarin synonyms
买单	埋單	maai^4 daan^1	(Can we please have the) bill?	结账
搭档	拍檔	paak^3 dong^3	partner	伙伴 (in ownership and business) 舞伴 (in dancing)
打的	搭的士	daap^3 dik^1 si^2	to ride a taxi	乘出租车
无厘头	無釐頭, corruption of 無來頭	mou^4 lei^4 tau^4	nonsensical humour (see mo lei tau) newbie who knows nothing	莫名其妙
亮仔/靓仔	靚仔	leng^3 zai^2	handsome boy	帅哥儿 俊男 哥们 (in China only)
拍拖	拍拖	paak^3 to^1	dating	追求 求爱
很正	好正	hou^2 zeng^3	(colloquial) awesome; perfect; just right	很棒
搞掂/搞定	搞掂	gaau^2 dim^6	Is it done yet? (It's) Done! It has been taken care of!	办妥 做完 做好 弄完

Into Taiwanese Mandarin

Taiwanese Mandarin	Hanyu Pinyin	Cantonese	Jyutping	English
(猴)塞雷	(hóu) sāiléi	(好)犀利	hou^2 sai^1 lei^6	(very) impressive
Hold住[6]	hòu zhù	Hold住	hou^1 jyu^6	hold on hang tight (hang in there)

Into Japanese

Japanese Kana (Kanji)	Japanese Rōmaji	Chinese Characters	Jyutping	English
ヤムチャ (飲茶)	yamucha	飲茶	jam^2 caa^4	yum cha
チャーシュー (叉焼)	chāshū	叉燒	caa^1 siu^1	char siu
チャーハン (炒飯)	chāhan	炒飯	caau^2 faan^6	fried rice

Code-switching and loanword adaptation

Main article: Code-switching in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Cantonese has a high number of foreign loanwords. Sometimes, the parts of speech of the incorporated words are changed. In some examples, some new meanings of English words are even created. For example, "至yeah", literally "the most yeah", means "the trendiest". Originally, "yeah" means "yes/okay" in English, but it means "trendy" when being incorporated into Hong Kong Cantonese (Cf. "yeah baby" and French "yé-yé").

Semantic change is common in loanwords; when foreign words are borrowed into Cantonese, polysyllabic words and monosyllabic words tend to become disyllabic, and the second syllable is in the Upper Rising tone (the second tone). For example, "kon₁ si₂" (coins), "sek⁶ kiu¹" (security) and "ka¹ si²" (cast). A few polysyllabic words become monosyllabic though, like "mon¹" (monitor), literally means computer monitor. And some new Cantonese lexical items are created according to the morphology of Cantonese. For example, "laai¹ 記" from the word "library". Most of the disyllabic words and some of the monosyllabic words are incorporated as their original pronunciation, with some minor changes according to the Cantonese phonotactics.

Incorporating words from foreign languages into Cantonese is acceptable to most Cantonese speakers. Hong Kong Cantonese speakers frequently code-mix although they can distinguish foreign words from Cantonese ones. For instance, "噉都唔 make sense", literally means "that doesn't make sense". After a Cantonese speaker decides to code-mix a foreign word in a Cantonese sentence, syntactical rules of Cantonese will be followed. For instance, "sure" (肯定) can be used like "你 su¹ 唔 su¹ aa³?" (are you sure?) as if it were its Cantonese counterpart "你肯唔肯定?", using the A-not-A question construction.

In some circumstances, code-mixing is preferable because it can simplify sentences. An excellent example (though dated) of the convenience and efficiency of such mixing is "打 collect call" replacing "打一個由對方付款嘅長途電話", i.e. 13 syllables reduced to four.[7]

Short-text adaptations

Abbreviation

Abbreviations are commonly used in Hong Kong and have flourished with the use of short messaging over the Internet. Some examples:

Table of Abbreviation

Original term	Abbreviated term	Explanation
Cantonese: 唔知(ng4 zi1) English: do not know	5G (ng5 G) Example: 甲: 你知唔知邊個係比德? 乙: 我5G English: A: Do you know who is Peter? B: I don’t know (5G).	The “5” here is not pronounced as “five” but in Cantonese “ng5”, which is the Chinese word “五" (ng5). Since “五"(ng5) and “唔" (ng4), “知" (zi1) and “G” are having similar pronunciations, we used 5G to replace the Cantonese term”唔知, which carries the meaning of don’t know. (Sometimes "idk" is more often to express "I do not know".)
Cantonese:鍾意(zung1 ji3) English: Like	中2 (zung3 ji6) Example: 我好中2佢呀! English: I like (中2 zung3 ji6) him so much!	Due to similar pronunciation, the “2” here is pronounced as the Chinese “二" (ji6) rather than “two”. Combining this number with the Chinese character "中" (zung3), it carries similar pronunciation as “鍾意”(zung1 ji3) but the structure of this martian language term is much simpler.
Cantonese:師奶(si1 naai1) English: Housewife	C9 Example: 你著到成個C9咁 English: You dress like a housewife(C9).	The word C9 should be pronounced in English “C nine”, which is very similar to Cantonese si1 naai1. It is an easier form of typing the word “師奶” without changing the meaning in Cantonese. The two characters are already on the keyboard so it is much simpler to type.
7-Eleven (7-11)	Se-fun(音:些粉)/ Chat1 Jai2(七仔） Example: 去些粉/七仔買野飲先 English : Let’s go 7-Eleven (Se-fun 些粉) to buy some drinks.	“Chat1” is the Chinese word of seven and “Jai2” is son or boy
Take Away(外賣)	Haang4 Gai1(行街) (literal: walk on the street) Example: 魚蛋粉行街! English: Fish Ball Noodles for take-away! (Haang4 Gai1 行街)	This abbreviation is often used in Hong Kong-style cafés for take-away.
Uh-huh	55 Example: 甲: 你今日要番學? 乙:55 English: A: Do you need to attend school today? B:Yea.(55)	Homophonic for “ng ng” (嗯嗯) which indicates agreement or understanding.
Post (發表／張貼)	po Example: 我po咗相 English: I posted (po) a photo.	example of common omission of final consonant (not naturally occurring in Cantonese)

See also

• Bilingualism in Hong Kong
• Cantonese profanity
• Code-switching in Hong Kong
• Proper Cantonese pronunciation
• Comparison of national standards of Chinese
• Hong Kong English
• Varieties of Chinese

References

1. "Official Language Division, Civil Service Bureau, Government of Hong Kong". Government of Hong Kong. 19 September 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
2. To, Carol K. S.; Mcleod, Sharynne; Cheung, Pamela S. P. (2015). "Phonetic variations and sound changes in Hong Kong Cantonese: diachronic review, synchronic study and implications for speech sound assessment". Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. 29 (5): 333–353. doi:10.3109/02699206.2014.1003329. hdl:10722/214685. PMID 25651195.
3. Bauer, Robert S.; Cheung, Kwan-hin; Cheung, Pak-man (2003). "Variation and merger of the rising tones in Hong Kong Cantonese". Language Variation and Change. 15 (2): 211–225. doi:10.1017/S0954394503152039. hdl:10397/7632.
4. Together Learn Cantonese, see middle section.
5. "A list compiled by lbsun". Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2006.
6. "你"Hold住"没"Hold住"?". 学生导报 中职周刊. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
7. "Info" (PDF). www.patrickchu.net.

External links

• Learn Cantonese (with Cantonese-English / English-Cantonese Dictionary)
• Learn Chinese with Chinese Lyrics Now with Pinyin and sound files
• Jyutping romanisation of Cantonese reading of Chinese characters using in Hong Kong