si5 zan3市鎮市镇
Jyutpingsi5 zan3
Yalesíh jan
Definition
Town; a small urban area that is smaller than a city but larger than a village.
neutralplaces
How it's used
This term is primarily used in formal, administrative, or geographical contexts to describe a specific type of urban settlement. In casual daily conversation, Hong Kongers rarely use this word, preferring to refer to specific districts or areas by name or simply calling them 地方.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
Does the town you live in have an MTR station?
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use this word to describe any small residential area, but it carries a connotation of official town planning or administrative status that does not apply to typical residential neighborhoods in Hong Kong.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
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).
