po3 hiu2破曉破晓
Jyutpingpo3 hiu2
Yalepo híu
Definition
To break; referring to the moment of dawn when the sun begins to appear in the morning sky.
writtennaturetime
How it's used
Literary and poetic in nature, this term is rarely used in casual, everyday speech to describe the time of day. It is more commonly encountered in written prose, song lyrics, or formal descriptions of scenery. For standard daily communication, people prefer using plain phrases like 天光 or 日出.
Examples
They waited until dawn before they were willing to go home.
The sky is very beautiful at the break of dawn.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use this as a common verb for waking up or starting the day, but it specifically refers to the natural phenomenon of light appearing at sunrise.
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).
