haa6 jin3下咽
Jyutpinghaa6 jin3
Yalehah yin
Definition
To swallow down.
colloquialbodydaily actions
How it's used
Use 吞 instead of 下咽 in all daily spoken contexts. 下咽 is strictly formal or literary and would sound extremely unnatural or even clinical if used in conversation. Native speakers reserve 吞 for the physical act of moving food or drink down the throat.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use 下咽 because it appears in dictionaries, but it is not a word used in living speech. Always use 吞 when talking about eating, drinking, or taking medicine.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
