mou4 lei5無理无理
Jyutpingmou4 lei5
Yalemòuh léih
Definition
Unreasonable; not making sense or lacking justification.
colloquialdescriptions
How it's used
Used primarily to describe actions or demands that lack logical justification or fairness. It carries a stronger sense of personal frustration than the more neutral 唔合理, which often refers to systems or rules. When someone behaves in a way that is intentionally disruptive or provocative without cause, this is the go to adjective.
Examples
What you are doing is really unreasonable.
Why does he have to scold people for no reason?
Related words
Common phrases
to make trouble without reason
unreasonable demand
Common mistake
Avoid confusing this with 冇理, which is a literal, colloquial way of saying someone is ignoring or paying no attention to something, such as in 佢完全冇理我.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
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).
