jyu4 daan3魚旦鱼旦
Jyutpingjyu4 daan3
Yaleyùh daan
Definition
Fish ball; a common Cantonese food made of fish paste.
colloquialfooddim sum
How it's used
Street food culture in Hong Kong often features fish balls served on a wooden skewer, commonly called 魚旦串. While the standard character is 蛋, the variant 旦 is almost exclusively used in this specific food context. It is a quintessential snack found at convenience stores and street stalls, often simmered in spicy curry sauce.
Measure word
nap1粒nāpExamples
The fish balls at this shop are very bouncy and chewy.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse the character 旦 with 蛋, but 魚旦 is the conventional way to write this specific snack in Hong Kong, whereas 魚蛋 might be seen in more formal or written contexts.
Grammar color guide
Noun
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Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
