joeng1殃
Jyutpingjoeng1
Yaleyēung
Definition
Disaster, calamity, or misfortune.
neutralother
How it's used
Rarely appears as a standalone noun in modern spoken Cantonese, functioning almost exclusively as a bound morpheme within the compound 遭殃. It carries a sense of being caught in the crossfire or suffering the negative consequences of a situation that was not necessarily one's own fault. Use it when describing a victim of circumstances rather than a direct perpetrator.
Examples
We are really in trouble this time, the whole house is flooded.
If you do that, you will end up dragging others into disaster.
Related words
Common phrases
to suffer disaster
Common mistake
Avoid using it to describe minor inconveniences or personal mistakes, as it implies a significant, often external, calamity or misfortune.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
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).
