nau1嬲
Jyutpingnau1
Yalenāu
Definition
Angry; displeased.
colloquialemotion
How it's used
This word is visually iconic because the character consists of three hearts, representing a heart that is agitated or distressed. It is the standard, everyday way to express anger in Cantonese, whereas the Mandarin term 生氣 is rarely used in spoken Hong Kong Cantonese. It is often used with the intensifier 好 to describe the intensity of the feeling.
Examples
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with 惱, which is a formal or literary term for being annoyed or vexed. Stick to 嬲 for all casual, spoken contexts to sound natural.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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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).
