jau5 kiu2 kai1有蹺蹊有跷蹊
Jyutpingjau5 kiu2 kai1
Yaleyáuh kíu kāi
Definition
Suspicious; fishy; something is not quite right.
colloquialdescriptionscommunication
How it's used
Used to describe a situation where something feels suspicious or potentially deceptive. It implies an underlying secret or hidden agenda that has not yet been uncovered. It is frequently used in casual conversation to express intuition or a gut feeling that a situation is not as straightforward as it appears.
Examples
This matter seems fishy, you had better investigate it clearly first.
He is suddenly being so nice to me, there must be something fishy going on.
Related words
Common phrases
to feel that something is fishy
definitely something fishy
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with simple suspicion of a person. While you can say someone has suspicious behavior, the phrase specifically refers to the situation or the event itself being strange, rather than just describing a person's character.
Grammar color guide
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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).
