man4 ming4 jan4文明人
Jyutpingman4 ming4 jan4
Yalemàhn mìhng yàhn
Definition
Civilized person.
colloquialpeopledescriptions
How it's used
Used primarily to mock someone who is behaving rudely or acting like a savage. It is rarely a genuine compliment and often carries a sarcastic tone when someone is being loud or messy in public spaces. Calling someone a 文明人 is a way to tell them to check their manners without being overtly aggressive.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
You should act like a civilized person.
Are they civilized people?
Related words
Common phrases
pretending to be civilized
Common mistake
Do not use this to describe someone who is simply educated or well-read, as that would be better expressed as 有文化 or 有教養. Using 文明人 in a serious context can sound unnatural or overly formal.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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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).
