hou3 haak3好客
Jyutpinghou3 haak3
Yalehou haak
Definition
Having high passenger volume; carrying many passengers.
colloquialtransport
How it's used
Primarily used in the context of public transport, such as buses, trains, or taxis, to describe a route or service that is consistently busy or profitable. It implies a high volume of patronage rather than just a single instance of a full vehicle. While it shares a similar character to the common phrase for being hospitable, the context of transport makes the meaning clear to local speakers.
Examples
This bus route has so many passengers, why do they need to reduce the frequency?
The MTR line is popular with passengers on weekdays, but not many people take it on holidays.
Related words
Common phrases
a popular or busy route
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the standard meaning of hospitable or welcoming to guests, which is how the term is used in Mandarin and formal written Chinese. In Hong Kong Cantonese, it is almost exclusively reserved for describing passenger volume on transport routes.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
