mai1 sin1咪仙
Jyutpingmai1 sin1
Yalemāi sīn
Definition
Streptomycin; an antibiotic drug.
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How it's used
This term is a phonetic loanword from English that was historically common in Hong Kong medical contexts. It is now considered quite dated, as modern medical terminology has largely replaced it with more specific or standard names for antibiotics. You will mostly hear it from older generations who grew up when this specific drug was a standard treatment for infections.
Measure word
zi1支jīExamples
The doctor said I need a shot of streptomycin to recover.
Related words
Common phrases
to have a streptomycin injection
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with general terms for medicine or pills, as it refers specifically to a type of antibiotic. Using it in a modern clinical setting might cause confusion because doctors today rarely use this specific loanword.
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).
