gwan1鈞钧
Jyutpinggwan1
Yalegwān
Definition
An ancient unit of weight equal to thirty catties, or a polite honorific for "your".
- archaican ancient unit of weight equal to thirty catties
- literaryyour
writtenpeoplecommunication
How it's used
Reserved almost exclusively for formal written correspondence or highly respectful address. It functions as an honorific prefix to nouns related to the recipient, such as 鈞鑒 for letters or 鈞座 for direct address. You will rarely encounter this in spoken Cantonese unless someone is deliberately using archaic or overly polite language to show extreme deference.
Examples
To your attention, how have you been lately?
Please take a seat, let us talk slowly.
Related words
Common phrases
to your attention (formal letter salutation)
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the common pronoun 你. Using 鈞 in casual conversation will sound bizarrely formal or even sarcastic, as it is strictly a literary or epistolary honorific.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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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).
