| DISCLAIMER |
All
chinglish and translations on this page are made up by the author and
his friends. The author(s) takes no responsibility in how you choose
to use the following information whether it be to impress or disgust
people :P. Any unauthorized publication or reproduction of the following
materials is strictly prohibited, but since the author doesn't care,
feel free to use the following information in whatever devious way you
like ;) ! All right reserved 2001. |
 |
| Since I have been getting
a few comments on the extensive use of chinglish on this page. I have
decided to create a phonetic dictionary of common-used chinglish words.
What's a chinglish word you ask ? ... well it's when a person starts of
speaking in English and substitutes a Cantonese ( Chinese ) word
for some nouns or verbs in the sentence. For example: " Can
you 'hoy' the 'moon' " --> which translates into "Can you
open the door ". Why would people want to mix and mangle Cantonese words with English ? you may ask ? .. well I guess people do it because it makes people laugh at the absurdity of the sentences that may be created and sometimes there is no way to describe something in English that can easily described by one Cantonese word. Nonetheless, chinglish must be used sparingly and at the right time because misuse of it will make it tacky and boring .. ( plus alot of people who actually KNOW how to speak perfect Cantonese get pretty irked sometime by overuse of it and might proceed to 'disable' your ability of mangling their language :P ) So I guess in conclusion, chinglish is an art ( .. in a screwed-up sort of way ) ... and since there's alot of it used on this homepage, I figured I would at least give some of you less-Cantonese inclined people a chance to understand all the incessant words in hopes that you too, one day will use and pass on the gift ( or curse ... depending on your point of view ). I have opted to leave out any negative words, phrases or swearing because chinglish is not meant to be used that way and plus I have to maintain some sense of integrity ( or at least pretend too ;) ... j/k ). Please do not e-mail me for the aformentioned stuff. Thanks. If you have any suggestions or want to add to the words below ... feel free to e-mail at: email@brianfu.com and give me your beefs and comments :) ! This page has been started with the help of Jenne and Shirley ( which means that anything you don't like is probably their idea and anything you like is my idea ;) ! .. their help has proven invaluable ) ... |
| A |
| aiyah : ( multipurpose
chinglish word ) oh boy, oh no, oh shoot, oh please aie dung no : ( fobby accent of english sentence "I don't know" ) aw mmm jee ah ? : I don't know aw seurng aowl : I want to puke |
| B |
| ba ba :
father bach gwah: nosy bao wontons : make wonton noodles ;) bay mean : give respect ba see : bus bih ah : tragic bih lo: cripple or lame walking person boe deen wah jook : ( literally making telephone congee) : to describe being on the phone for extended amounts of time bow : boil but jee sawh wai : I don't really care ( in a negative gesture ) |
| C |
| chaan :
ugly chah : tea chee sawh : washroom chee seen : crazy cheh : car cheh (dragged out for ten seconds or more) : please, what a joke cheh die pao (literally driving big canons) : you are telling a lie cheung giang look : giraffe cheurng hay ( literally 'long winded' ) : adjective used to describe a naggy or incessantly picky person ( ex. you are c.h. ) cho loh : scrubby ( ex. you look so 'cho lo' ) choi : type of chinese vegetable ( can include bach choi, etc etc. ) choi !!! (exclamation) : to "unjinx" or "undo" something that just happened.. example 1: someone just did something gross...then a see lai (usually) would say "choi! ..dai gud lai see! ("big" "chinese orange-wanna be" "red pocket") "originated from superstition... |
| D |
| da deen low
: play video games dah hoh bao : to picket pocket dah mah jerks : to play majong dean loh : crazy, psycotic guy dean paw : crazy, psychotic girl deen see : Television deen wah : phone die geen see : serious matter ! or big trouble die wok! ( literally -> big pan) : "Shoot!", "Drats!" dih dih : younger brother do cheen : gambling doah wun doah : Toronto duck yee : cute dung : chair dung werleeee ( fobby accent of English sentence "don't worry" ) : everything is going to be fine dung zhun - hold on |
| F |
| fa : flower
( or in another accent or phonetics it can mean 'scratched' ) faan : rice faat ( or faht ) choi : black stringy noodles ( or it can be used as a adjective for hair saying that it looks coarse and unmanageable ) faat dean ( or faht deen ) : go nuts ! faat dean jor : gone nuts faat ( or faht ) pay hay : throwing a fit fens, fens ah-lawt : ( fobby accent for English sentence " thanks alot" ) fong chaow pay : fart foo ( or fu ) : bitter ( but in another accent or phonetics, it can mean 'pants' ) foo ( or fu ) yu : bean curd fun : thick noodles |
| G |
| ga feh : coffee gaow : dog gawh gwah : older brother gick say ngoh ah - you're driving me insane ( ngoh is pronounced like gnaw with a bit of 'n' in front of it ) geurk : foot gong die wah : you are telling a lie gong sick lai chah : Hong Kong Style Tea gum die dahm : to have the audacity to do such and such gup liew : I need to go to the bathroom badly gwai loh : Anyone who is not chinese gwie shu shu : suspicious looking gwut : bone |
| H |
| haam bao or haam mao
: cry baby haam sup loh : Pervert, sicko, sick-minded person :P ! heung hao gao : bubble gum heurng jiew : banana ( may also be used to refer to asian Canadians or Americans ... yellow on the inside, white inside ;) ) hi lah, hi lah : "yes, okay, fine, whatever" ( in a sarcastic tone ) high ! ( exclaimation ) : a 'sigh' commonly used by Chinese people ho lah : enough ho yao : oyster sauce ho yun : good person hut-yee : scrubby person, poor person |
| J |
| jaap : episodes jah cheh : driving jee gun : tissue or kleenex jee saht ( or jee saat ? ) : kill myself jeep mook : event jeh jeh : older sister jeung mun baan : Chinese school jook : congee jook sing : Canadian born chinese (or is it chinese born canadian??) joy geen : see ya later jun juu lai cha : Bubble tea jup : sauce jup lup : Go out of business juu : pig |
| K |
| kao kay - no-effort,
sloppy method kay tow - pray kwun - dress |
| L |
| laan duck chick
: up to no good, naught laan sing : boastful, cocky laap ( or lahp ) saap : garbage lay gong siew : "You're joking, right ? " lay poh : ridiculous lay seurng say : " you asking for your death " or " you want to die, don't you ? " leng jih : good-looking guy leng leour : good-looking girl lo bang : ( literally -> old biscuit ) ... used to describe 'old men' look : tire(s) lie liew : Whoops, I just relieved myself in my pants |
| M |
| ma jerks : majong ma ma : mother mao : cat meen : thin noodles meh yeh see ah ? : " What's up ( or wrong ) with you ? " mmmmm goy : thanks ! mong gahw bo deen : mango pudding moon : door moon doe say ah : " I'm bored out of my mind " mow yeong : useless muns : bugs muoong: blind |
| N |
| ngawk lick : stressed ngow : cow ngoh deem jee wor : "How am I supposed to know ? " num bah : fobby way of saying "number" |
| O |
| Oh Mei : A chinese
restaurant on Highway 7 and Valleymede Dr. |
| P |
| pach taw : dating someone ping gawh : apple pung yao : friend |
| S |
| saang : close saang yut fy lock: happy birthday sao : hand say foh (literally dead fire) : "Darn, now we're really in for it!" sawh : dumb, retarded, stupid sawh lee : ( fobby accent of english word " sorry " ) see daan : "whatever, anything is fine" see lai : ( in Waterloo it means ... High Maitenance person ) seh, mmmmmm, look : ( literally "4,5,6" ... but it's also a chinese supermarket on Bayview and 16th avenue ) seh lah : I'm dead !!! siew yeh : midnight snacking sih gwah doe : watermelon cleaver (essential if you are a Chinese father and have daughters) soh gwa : ( literally -> crazy melon ) crazy, ludicrous person su : losing ( or in another accent or phonetics, it can mean 'book' ) sum see see : when the heart is in a state of flutteriness (ie: worried, anxious or infatuated) sun tai geen hong: wish you good health sut buy : defeated, in a sad state ( ex. You are really 'sut buy' ) |
| T |
| tao : head tao tuoong : head hurts tong : soup tung tiew : chinese duster ( also commonly known as the device to discipline kids with when we were small ) |
| U |
| un bao : wallet un pay : naughty |
| W |
| wie see boe gong kum
: Wesberg Piano ( vivid memory if you were an asian Canadian watching
Chinese TV growing up ;) ) wu jo : physical dirty wun bun : useless, rip-off, garbage wut dut : grotesque, ugly won la!! : oh my goodness... also annonymous to say la!! and mo la!!..depending on the degree of seriousness |
| X |
| XO jeurng :
XO sauce |
| Y |
| yao seure
: swim yao mo gao chor : What the heck ?! yeh sow : Jesus Christ yeeeeeeeee : gross, disgusting, why the heck would you do that? yeem jeem : picky or fussy ying seurng : take picture(s) or photo(s). yum cha : to go dim sum yum teen tong : Nintendo Entertainemnt System ( the old one ) yum tong : drink soup |