daai6 sou3 ceoi4大掃除大扫除
Jyutpingdaai6 sou3 ceoi4
Yaledaaih sou chèuih
Definition
To clean a house thoroughly, especially as a Lunar New Year tradition on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.
colloquialhomefestival
How it's used
Traditionally associated with the custom of sweeping away bad luck before the Lunar New Year, this term implies a much more intensive effort than routine tidying. It is almost exclusively used for cleaning one's own home or a shared living space rather than a workspace or public area. When people use this word, they are usually referring to the specific, exhausting process of clearing out clutter and scrubbing every corner of the house.
Measure word
ci3次chiExamples
New Year is coming soon, the house needs a thorough cleaning.
Have you guys finished the thorough cleaning this year?
Related words
Common phrases
thorough cleaning on the 28th day of the lunar month
Common mistake
Do not use this for simple daily chores like washing dishes or sweeping the floor, as it specifically denotes a large scale, deep cleaning event.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
