saam1 paa4 loeng5 but6三扒兩撥三扒两拨
Jyutpingsaam1 paa4 loeng5 but6
Yalesāam pàh léuhng buht
Definition
To do something quickly and efficiently, with speed and agility.
colloquialdaily actionsdescriptions
How it's used
This idiom vividly captures the image of someone eating or working with rapid, sweeping motions. It is almost exclusively used to describe tasks that are completed with surprising speed and minimal fuss. While it often refers to eating, it is equally common in professional or household contexts to describe someone who is highly efficient.
Examples
Can you get it done quickly?
Related words
Common phrases
to wolf down food
to finish a task in a hurry
Common mistake
Do not use this to describe someone who is simply fast in a professional or athletic sense, as the imagery is specifically tied to the messy or hurried nature of shoveling food into one's mouth.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
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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).
