daan1丹
Jyutpingdaan1
Yaledāan
Definition
Red; pellet, powder, or pill, especially of traditional medicine or alchemy.
- red
- pellet, powder, or pill, especially of traditional medicine or alchemy
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How it's used
Refers primarily to traditional medicinal powders or pills, often associated with Taoist alchemy or historical herbal medicine. While the character literally means red, it is rarely used as a standalone adjective for the color red in modern spoken Cantonese, where 紅 is the standard choice.
Measure word
baau1包bāuExamples
This pill is a red medicinal powder.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not use this to describe the color red in daily life, as it will sound archaic or poetic. It is almost exclusively reserved for specific medical or historical contexts.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
