gung1 cong2 mui1工廠妹工厂妹
Jyutpinggung1 cong2 mui1
Yalegūng chóng mūi
Definition
Factory girl; a young female factory worker, historically common in Hong Kong.
colloquialpeoplework
How it's used
Refers specifically to the young women who powered the manufacturing boom in Hong Kong during the 1960s and 1970s. It carries a strong sense of nostalgia and is rarely used to describe modern workers in contemporary industrial settings. The term often evokes images of simple, repetitive tasks like assembling plastic flowers or electronics in crowded workshops.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
She used to work as a factory girl.
Back then, many factory girls would go out for sweet soup after work.
Related words
Common phrases
factory girl culture
Common mistake
Avoid using this to describe any young woman working in a factory today, as it is heavily associated with a specific historical era and can sound outdated or patronizing.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
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.
