jyu4 gan3儒艮
Jyutpingjyu4 gan3
Yaleyùh gan
Definition
Dugong; a herbivorous marine mammal closely related to the manatee but with a fluked tail.
neutralanimals
How it's used
Scientific terms like this are rarely used in casual daily conversation unless discussing marine biology or visiting an aquarium. Most locals would simply refer to them by their English name or describe them as a type of sea cow. The connection to mermaids is a common piece of trivia often shared in educational contexts.
Measure word
zek3隻jekExamples
Let's go to Ocean Park to see the dugong.
Do you know if a dugong is actually a mermaid?
Related words
Common phrases
endangered dugong
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).



