baak6 jau2白油
Jyutpingbaak6 jau2
Yalebaahk yáu
Definition
White paint, correction fluid, or soy sauce.
- white paint
- correction fluid; liquid paper; whiteout
- regionallight soy sauce
colloquialschoolwork
How it's used
Refers primarily to correction fluid in a school or office setting. While it literally translates to white oil, it is never used to describe soy sauce in Hong Kong, unlike in some Southeast Asian Cantonese dialects where it might refer to light soy sauce. It is most commonly used as a noun for the liquid itself or the act of covering a mistake.
Measure word
zi1支jīExamples
There is a patch of whiteout on the document, it looks very untidy.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the culinary term for soy sauce, which is 豉油 in Hong Kong. Using 白油 to ask for soy sauce at a restaurant will cause confusion.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
