jin4涎
Jyutpingjin4
Yaleyìhn
Definition
Saliva; drool.
colloquialbodyemotion
How it's used
涎 is a literary or formal morpheme that is rarely used as a standalone noun in modern spoken Cantonese. Instead, speakers almost exclusively use 口水 to refer to saliva. You will mostly encounter 涎 in compound words like 垂涎, which carries a metaphorical sense of craving or greed.
Examples
He is drooling all over seeing the delicious food.
Are you drooling with envy just because you see others have money?
Related words
Common phrases
to drool with greed
to drool three feet (idiom for extreme craving)
Common mistake
Do not use 涎 in everyday conversation to describe actual saliva, as it sounds archaic or overly clinical. Stick to 口水 for physical contexts.
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.
