hang6 kwai1幸虧幸亏

Jyutpinghang6 kwai1

Yalehahng kwāi

副詞

Definition

Luckily; fortunately; thankfully avoiding a bad situation due to favorable circumstances.

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How it's used

While 幸虧 is perfectly understandable in Cantonese, it carries a slightly more formal or written tone compared to the ubiquitous 好彩. Speakers often use 幸虧 when describing a situation where a disaster was narrowly avoided, whereas 好彩 is used for any stroke of good luck, large or small. It is common to see 幸虧 paired with 先至 to emphasize the causal link between the lucky factor and the positive outcome.

Examples

hang6幸kwai1虧nei5你tai4提jat1一tai4提，m4唔hai6係ngo5我zau6就m4唔gei3記dak1得zo2咗。

Luckily you reminded me, otherwise I would have forgotten.

hang6幸kwai1虧gam1今jat6日mou5冇lok6落jyu5雨，ngo5我dei6哋sin1先ho2可ji5以heoi3去haang4行saan1山。

Fortunately it didn't rain today, so we could go hiking.

Common phrases

hang6幸kwai1虧jau5有

luckily there was

hang6幸kwai1虧sin1先zi3至

only because of... that...

Common mistake

Learners often overuse 幸虧 in casual conversation where 好彩 would sound much more natural. Additionally, avoid using it to mean 'lucky' as an adjective; it functions strictly as an adverb to modify the entire clause.