nin4 siu1年宵
Jyutpingnin4 siu1
Yalenìhn sīu
Definition
Lunar New Year's Eve, or a Lunar New Year fair.
- Lunar New Year's Eve
- Lunar New Year fair; flower market held before the new year
colloquialfestivalplaces
How it's used
Refers specifically to the temporary outdoor markets held in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year. While the term technically denotes the eve of the new year, it is almost exclusively used in Hong Kong to describe the festive shopping fairs where people buy flowers, snacks, and decorations. It is almost always paired with the verb 行, forming the common activity of 行年宵.
Examples
Are you going to the Lunar New Year fair this year?
We went to the Victoria Park Lunar New Year fair last night.
Related words
Common phrases
to visit a Lunar New Year fair
to stroll through a Lunar New Year fair
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the actual New Year's Eve dinner or the holiday itself. It refers strictly to the market event, so using it to describe a family reunion or the act of staying up late on New Year's Eve is incorrect.
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).
