ham1戡
Jyutpingham1
Yalehām
Definition
To suppress, quell, or put down a rebellion or riot.
writtenother
How it's used
Literary and archaic in nature, this character is rarely encountered in modern spoken Cantonese. It is typically reserved for historical narratives, martial arts fiction, or formal written contexts to describe violent acts. Using it in daily conversation will sound highly unnatural or overly dramatic.
Examples
They want to kill their enemy.
Related words
Common phrases
suppress a rebellion
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with 砍, which specifically refers to chopping or hacking with a blade. While both involve violence, 戡 carries a more formal or literary weight that is absent in everyday speech.
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).
