The Body, Questions, Cosmetics, More Important Words

Parts of the Body

	English	Cantonese	Comments	Char (Trad)
901	Head	tau		頭
902	Hair	mOu		毛
903	Eye	ngaan	Coll: ‘len’ is used as default in Foshan	眼
904	Nose	bAi		鼻
905	Ear	d’zhE		耳
906	Tongue	sit		舌
907	Lips	CEon		唇
908	Tooth or Teeth	ngaa CE		牙齒
909	Neck and Throat	geng		頸
910	Arm	bAi		臂
911	Leg	tEoi		腿
912	Foot	gOek		腳
913	Toe	gOek zhE	Toe or Toes	腳趾
914	Finger	sau zhE		手指
916	Thumb or Big Toe	mOu	Sure : its the same, and as ‘hair’ above	拇
917	Wrist	wun		腕
918	Breasts	hung bOu		胸部
919	Body	san		身
920	Sexual Organs	sing hAi	Normally referred to as ‘sI lO’ and ‘sI moo-yi’ = little brother/sister respectively	性器

Questions

921	Default Word	gAi	60% correct most of the time, and 90% by interpretation of your bad grammar
	How	dim yeurng
	Why	dim gaai
	What	gAi Cei
	When	gAi Cei
	Where	bin doh
	Which	bin gor
	Who	bin gor

Note:

v This is a generalised guideline only. Most questions either have their own specific phraseology, or are of the form ‘You go, not go ?’ etc

19 Useful Phrases

922	Stupid idiot	yut gao faan	An old lump of rice	一舊飯
923	Man who lives off a woman	yut faan wong	Soft rice King (wong = king) = not a proper man!	軟飯(王)
924	Stupid boy	sO lO	Also: Stupid husband
925	Stupid girl	sO pau	Also: Stupid wife
926	Oh My God !	Oh tien-ah!	Cantonese usually say the English
927	Fat pig	GEE-laa!	Usually about a girl, but can mean a boy
928	Good eating and drinking	taI sic, yut sic yuaam
929	How you doing?	lAi joy gun dim-ma?	Alt: ‘dim-ma joy gun lAi?’
930	Everything goes well	yut taI son lAi
931	I know	hO zhEi	Use specifically
932	I understand	g’nor zhEi laah!	Use generally
933	You understand?	lAi zhEi laah?	Confirm understanding, etc
934	Help yourself	lAi zhong yEE la	Politeness with guests
935	I miss you	gnor gwa jo lAi
936	Movie	din ying
937	Photograph	ying sheurng
938	See you tomorrow	tun yut gun
939	Goodnight	zhao tau
940	South Pointing Chariot	zhI naam CEE	Ancient Chinese chariot with a mechanical wooden compass always pointing South. First used in warfare Circa 3000 BC… Clue: Required inventing the first ever ‘Differential gearbox’ to make it work	指南車

20 for Toiletries and Cosmetics

941	Towel	mOu gan		毛巾
942	Toothpaste	ngaa gOu		牙膏
943	Shampoo	sAi tau soi		洗頭水
944	Conditioner (Hair)	wu faat sou		護髮素
945	Toothbrush	ngaa caat		牙刷
946	Lipstick	CEon g’oo		唇膏
947	Mascara	ngaan zit mO yik		眼睫毛液
948	Eye-liner (Pencil)	Ngan CiEn bat		眼線筆
949	Blusher	jien	Face Powder for ‘rosey cheeks’	胭
950	Perfume	hO-eng soi	‘The Perfume River’ = Vietnam	香水
951	De-odorant	mmm hAi mAi		氣味
952	After-Shave	gU lung soi	Meaning: Eau de Cologne (For men)	古龍水
953	Anti-Perspirant	fong hon		防汗
954	Eye-lash tongues	gaau zhin		較剪
955	Style hair	din faat		電髮
956	Hairbrush	faat caat		髮刷
957	Comb	sO zhI		梳子
958	Moisturiser	yung foo gO		潤膚膏
959	Depiliate	t’yut mOu		脫毛
960	Face mask or Cleanser	hO zhong min geoi		好樣面具
961	Manicure	sau gaap	Foot massage parlours offer these services, and they are the best places to have ear problems looked at = Highly professional	修甲
962	Pedicure
	Ear cleaning
963	Massage	gwat churng	Presume: Non-sexual, clothes kept on	骨場
964	Toner	song fu soi	Skin toner	爽膚水
965	Shaver	sOu paau		鬚鉋

5 for Low-Life

966	Crazy	t’chEE-szin	Used commonly in daily speaking. Not offensive in Cantonese = general expletive! Do not use with Mandarin speakers! Mandarin: ‘chEE-shing’ is a very bad swear word (like ‘The C word’ in English)
967	Hi low	hI lO	Chinese pun on ‘Hello’. Generally take this to mean ‘stupid’, which you are not if you hear the difference. The rebuke is ‘lAi yun hI lO, sO lO’. It is nearly always meant as a joke, but can have a literal translation that most foreigners will find extremely offensive.
968	Guesture:		Closed fist; thumb poking between index and middle fingers. UK = reversed ‘V’ sign. USA = raised middle finger
969	A Chicken Sandwich	lo-urng laam gaap loi	Menage a trois Lit: 2 boys around 1 girl	男夾女
970	‘One country; two systems’	yut gwor; leurng zhI	A massage parlor that offers both regular and sexual massage services. Same with some ‘Hairdressers’ and ‘street-restaurants’	一國兩制

10 Important Words

971	Always	sueng yut
972	to Cook	jyU EE
973	Email or Use a Computer	EmAi-lOh!	Not a real word, but it works ever so well!
974	Forget	mmm gAi da
975	Music	yum ngok
976	New	sun
977	Present (gift)	lAi mut
978	Really?	jyun GEE
979	Very	fAi sheurng
980	Work	zhO yearh

Other Useful Words

981	English Name 1	ying maan meng	When said to a non-Cantonese person	英文名
982	English Name 2	ying yut meng	When said to a Cantonese person	英語名
983	Hawk, Peddle	dau sau	Begging is illegal in China - apparently. Hawkers are not!	兜售
984	Traditional Chinese Medicine	zhong yi hok		中醫學
985	Home	O K	HK: ‘uk kAi’. Mandarin: ‘wu chE’	屋
986	Robber	ko-eng dOu		強盜
987	Thief	siU tau	Alt: ‘caak zhI’ 賊仔. A burglar or thief	小偷
988	Wet Market	CEE churng	Fruit, vegetables, fish and meat (Still alive)	市場
989	Post Office	yaow guk	These places are usually a nightmare!	郵局
990	Security (Guard)	CE Q	Alt: ‘ging wAi’	警衛
991	Go for a Walk	San bO
992	Shopping	han gaI
993	Window shopping	cow mut
994	Flirt, look for a boy	kow zhI
995	Flirt, look for a girl	kow loi
996	Together	yut chaI
997	Have sex	zhao mmm goi	Many versions of this
998	To sleep	fun gao	Default phrase
999	Asleep	mmm GEE	Not common
1000	Wake up	sheurng jaw