jau1 waan6憂患忧患
Jyutpingjau1 waan6
Yaleyāu waahn
Definition
Suffering, misery, and hardship.
writtenemotionother
How it's used
This term carries a formal and somewhat literary weight that is rarely used in casual, everyday speech. It often appears in philosophical or political discussions regarding societal stability or personal character development. When people want to express common worry or stress in daily life, they prefer using terms like 煩惱 or 擔心.
Examples
Life will always involve experiencing many hardships.
Why are you always so full of worries and distress?
Related words
Common phrases
a sense of crisis or awareness of potential hardship
thriving through hardship
Common mistake
Avoid using this to describe minor daily annoyances, as it implies a deeper, more profound state of suffering or systemic trouble. Using it to describe a small problem like missing a bus will sound overly dramatic or archaic.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
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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).
