daai6 syun3大蒜
Jyutpingdaai6 syun3
Yaledaaih syun
Definition
Garlic; the bulb of the garlic plant.
colloquialfood
How it's used
Native speakers almost exclusively use 蒜頭 to refer to the whole bulb or individual cloves of garlic in daily life. Using 大蒜 sounds formal or like a direct translation from written Chinese, often appearing only on supermarket labels or in recipes. If you are talking about cooking, stick to 蒜頭 to sound natural.
Measure word
go3個goRelated words
Common mistake
Do not use 大蒜 in casual conversation as it sounds like you are reading from a textbook. Always prefer 蒜頭 when shopping at the wet market or talking about food preparation.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
