hoi1 han2開墾开垦
Jyutpinghoi1 han2
Yalehōi hán
Definition
To cultivate, reclaim, or clear wild land for agricultural use.
writtendaily actionsother
How it's used
This term is primarily used in formal or literary contexts regarding agricultural development or land transformation. In everyday spoken Cantonese, people rarely use this word unless they are discussing history, geography, or large scale farming projects. For general clearing of space or tidying up, other verbs like 清理 are much more common.
Examples
They worked very hard to reclaim this piece of wasteland.
This place used to be a barren mountain, how can it be reclaimed?
Related words
Grammar color guide
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Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
