si6豉

Jyutpingsi6

Yalesih

語素

Definition

Fermented black soybeans.

colloquialfood

How it's used

Appears almost exclusively as a bound morpheme in compound words rather than as a standalone noun in modern speech. The most common occurrence is in 豉油, which is the standard term for soy sauce in Hong Kong, contrasting with the Mandarin usage of 醬油. It carries a strong association with traditional Cantonese cooking techniques like steaming.

Examples

le1呢dip2碟zing1蒸paai4排gwat1骨lok6落zo2咗hou2好do1多dau6豆si6豉。

This plate of steamed pork ribs has a lot of fermented black beans in it.

nei5你maai5買zi1支si6豉jau4油faan1返lai4嚟mei6未aa4呀？

Have you bought the soy sauce yet?

Common phrases

si6豉jau4油

soy sauce

dau6豆si6豉

fermented black beans

Common mistake

Learners often mistake it for a standalone word, but it must be combined with other characters like 豆 or 油 to form a meaningful noun. Using it alone in a sentence will sound confusing to native speakers.