jam2 sik6飲食饮食
Jyutpingjam2 sik6
Yaleyám sihk
Definition
Food and drink; diet, or the act of eating and drinking.
neutralfoodhealth
How it's used
Unlike the Mandarin usage which can function as a verb meaning to eat and drink, the Cantonese term is strictly a noun referring to the general concept of diet or eating habits. It is frequently paired with adjectives like 健康 or 均衡 to describe lifestyle choices. In casual speech, people often prefer using the separate verbs 飲同食 when describing the act of consuming things.
Examples
He usually pays great attention to a healthy diet.
How have your eating habits been lately?
Related words
Common mistake
Do not use this as a verb to mean eating or drinking. If you want to say someone is eating, use 食緊嘢 instead of saying they are 飲食.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
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).
