jyu4 mui6愚昧
Jyutpingjyu4 mui6
Yaleyùh muih
Definition
Ignorant and foolish; lacking knowledge and understanding.
writtendescriptions
How it's used
This term carries a formal or literary tone and is rarely used in casual, everyday speech. It implies a lack of enlightenment or a stubborn refusal to accept logic, often used in critical or intellectual contexts rather than describing simple lack of information. Using it in a lighthearted conversation might sound overly dramatic or pretentious.
Examples
What he did is really ignorant.
Do you think this decision is very ignorant?
Related words
Common phrases
ignorant and benighted
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with 蠢, which is the standard colloquial word for stupid or foolish. 愚昧 is much heavier and carries a connotation of being backward or uneducated in a moral or societal sense, whereas 蠢 is just a general insult for lack of intelligence.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
