naan4 man4難聞难闻
Jyutpingnaan4 man4
Yalenàahn màhn
Definition
Smelly or bad-smelling; having an unpleasant odor, particularly of food rather than a place.
colloquialfooddescriptions
How it's used
Focuses specifically on the olfactory experience of objects or food items rather than the general atmosphere of a location. While 臭 is a blunt and direct way to say something stinks, 難聞 carries a slightly more descriptive tone, emphasizing that the smell is unpleasant or offensive to the senses. It is rarely used to describe a person's body odor, where 臭味 or 狐臭 would be more appropriate.
Examples
This dish smells really bad, did you burn it?
He opened the lunchbox, and the smell inside was unbearable.
Related words
Common phrases
the smell is very unpleasant
unbearably stinking
Common mistake
Avoid using this to describe a room or a street, as it sounds unnatural to native speakers. For a smelly place, use 臭 instead, such as 呢度好臭.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
