sin1鮮鲜
Jyutpingsin1
Yalesīn
Definition
Fresh; new and not spoiled.
colloquialfood
How it's used
Focuses primarily on the quality of food, particularly seafood and produce, to describe a state of peak flavor and vitality. While it can imply freshness in a general sense, it is most commonly used in culinary contexts to highlight the natural sweetness or oceanic quality of ingredients. It carries a slightly more appreciative tone than simply saying 新鮮.
Examples
This fish is very fresh, it was just caught from the seaside.
Related words
Common mistake
Avoid using this to describe people or abstract concepts, as it is almost exclusively reserved for food and ingredients. Using it to describe a person as fresh will likely be misunderstood or sound unnatural.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
