soeng6 lau4上流
Jyutpingsoeng6 lau4
Yaleseuhng làuh
Definition
Upper-class; having high social status.
neutralpeople
How it's used
Focuses on social status and prestige rather than just wealth. It is almost exclusively used as a modifier before nouns like 社會 or 場所 to describe settings or groups associated with the elite. Using it to describe an individual directly as an adjective sounds unnatural and slightly pretentious.
Examples
They often go to high-class places to drink.
Do you think this is the life of high society?
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 上面, which literally means 'above' or 'up there'. Using 上流 to describe physical height or location is incorrect.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
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).
