tan1 wan4 tou3 mou6吞雲吐霧吞云吐雾
Jyutpingtan1 wan4 tou3 mou6
Yaletān wàhn tou mouh
Definition
To blow and puff; to smoke tobacco, opium, or marijuana.
colloquialdaily actions
How it's used
While this idiom literally describes exhaling smoke, it is almost exclusively used to describe someone smoking cigarettes or cigars. It carries a slightly dramatic or literary flair, often used to tease someone or to complain about the annoyance of secondhand smoke. It is rarely used to describe actual clouds or fog in a meteorological sense.
Examples
He is smoking on the balcony, looking quite troubled.
Related words
Common phrases
a person who is smoking
Common mistake
Learners often mistake this for a literal description of weather or magic, but using it to describe actual fog will sound confusing or overly poetic to native speakers. Stick to using it for smoking behavior.
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.
