liu4嫽
Jyutpingliu4
Yalelìuh
Definition
Good, or to play with.
colloquialpeopledaily actions
How it's used
Primarily used in the Pearl River Delta region to describe children or animals being active and playful. It carries a slightly mischievous or restless nuance rather than just simple recreation. While it can mean good in some specific regional dialects, in modern Hong Kong Cantonese it is almost exclusively reserved for describing playful behavior.
Examples
This kid is so playful.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with 撩, which means to provoke or pick at something. Ensure you distinguish the playful nature of 嫽 from the potentially aggressive or annoying act of 撩.
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).
