- 潛水 cim4 seoi2 (go diving) to avoid attention, withdraw from public view
- 走佬 zau2 lou2 to abscond, excape the long arm of the law
- 消失 siu1 sat1 to vanish
- 玩失蹤 waan4 sat1 zung1 (play missing) trying to hide
- 冇蒲頭 mou5 pou4 tau4 (not emerging from the water)
- 人間蒸發 jan4 gaan1 zing1 faat3 (earth evaporate) to disappear from the face of the earth
- 無影無蹤 mou5 jing2 mou4 zung1 (no shadow, no trace) disappear without a trace
- "n-" becomes "l-" (你nei->lei, 內 noi->loi)
- "ng-" is dropped (我 ngo->o)
- "-w-" is lost (國 gwok->gok)
- 哋 dei (們)
我哋 o dei/你哋 lei dei/佢哋 kui dei (我們／你們/他們) - 啲 di
- 㗎 gah
- 咁 gam
- 嘅 geh (的)
- 咗 joh
- 佢 kui (他)
- 嚟 lai
- 唔 m (不)
唔係1 - 乜 mat
乜嘢 - 咩 meh (什麼)
咩事 - 睇 tai (看)
- 嘢 yeh
- 邊 bin
邊度 bin do - 得 dak
- 偈 gai
see 傾 king - 係 hai (是)
- 行 hang (走)
行路 hang lou - 傾 king
傾偈 king gai (聊天) - 蚊 man (元)
- 同 tong (和，跟，以及)
- 爸 ba
爸爸 ba ba - 車 che
車站 che jaam - 千 chin
- 蛋 daan
- 搭 daap
- 爹 de
爹哋 de dei - 地 dei
地鐵 dei tit
地鐵站 dei tit jaam - 電 din
電話 din wa
電視 din si
電腦 din lou
電郵 din yau
電梯 din tai - 快 fai
快樂 fai lok - 家 ga
家姐 ga jeh - 雞 gai
- 狗 gau
- 國 gwok
國家 gwok ga
國語 gwok yu
國內 gwok loi - 幸 hang
幸福 hang fuk - 香 heung
香港 heung gong - 兄 hing
兄弟 hing dai - 中 jung
中文 jung man - 媽 ma
媽媽 ma ma
媽咪 ma mi - 晚 man
- 內 (noi), loi
- 你 (nei), lei
- 我 (ngo), o
- 事 si
- 成 sing
成日
成果 sing gwo - 聽 teng
- 一 yat
- 有 yau
有落 yau lok - 夜 ye
夜晚 ye man - 犀利 sai lei: 厲害 (amazing, great)
Louisa Tam (SCMP)
Lessons
Cantonese characters (粵語用字)
Observations
Transliteration
Various spelling systems. Hong Kong government officially adopted jyut ping but also uses Yale (street signs)
Cantonese only
alternative usage
Vocabulary
Words
Profanity
