sin6擅
Jyutpingsin6
Yalesihn
Definition
Good at, proficient in, or excelling in something.
neutraldescriptions
How it's used
擅 is a bound morpheme that almost exclusively appears in the compound 擅長. It carries a slightly more formal or professional nuance compared to the common spoken word 叻. While 叻 can describe general ability or intelligence, 擅長 specifically highlights a skill or talent that someone has developed or mastered.
Examples
She is very good at drawing, her drawings are beautiful.
What kind of dishes are you good at cooking?
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often try to use 擅 alone as a verb, but it must be paired with 長 to form the standard term 擅長. Using it by itself sounds incomplete and unnatural to native speakers.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
