hau4猴

Jyutpinghau4

Yalehàuh

名詞Uncommon

Definition

Monkey; any primate of the infraorder Simiiformes, excluding apes, typically having a tail and flexible limbs.

neutralanimals

How it's used

While 猴 is the general term for monkey, it is rarely used in isolation in everyday speech. People almost always use the classifier 隻 before it, or use more specific terms like 馬騮 to refer to the animal in a casual, colloquial context.

Measure word

zek3隻jek

Examples

dung6動mat6物jyun4園jap6入min6面jau5有hou2好do1多zek3隻hau4猴。

There are many monkeys in the zoo.

Common phrases

hau4猴nin4年

Year of the Monkey

macaque

Common mistake

Learners often confuse 猴 with 猩猩, which refers to apes. In Cantonese, the most common colloquial word for monkey is actually 馬騮, whereas 猴 is often reserved for formal contexts or when referring to the Chinese zodiac sign.