ngoi6 sang1 neoi2外甥女
Jyutpingngoi6 sang1 neoi2
Yalengoih sāng néui
Definition
Niece; the daughter of a man's sister.
colloquialfamilypeople
How it's used
Cantonese kinship terms are highly specific and distinguish between maternal and paternal sides. While Mandarin uses 外甥女 for a sister's daughter regardless of the speaker's gender, in Cantonese, this term is strictly used by a male speaker to refer to his sister's daughter. If a female speaker refers to her sister's daughter, she would use 姨甥女 instead.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
My niece just started university this year.
When will you bring your niece out to play?
Related words
Common phrases
biological niece (sister's daughter)
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use this term for any niece. Remember that it is gender-specific to the speaker; a woman should never call her sister's daughter an 外甥女.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
