tim4 seoi2甜水
Jyutpingtim4 seoi2
Yaletìhm séui
Definition
Sweet dessert soup.
colloquialfooddim sum
How it's used
Refers specifically to traditional Cantonese sweet soups like red bean or green bean soup, rather than Western-style desserts like cake or ice cream. While the term is widely understood, younger generations often use the loanword 糖水 or simply refer to specific types of dessert by name. It carries a warm, nostalgic connotation associated with home cooking or late-night visits to local dessert shops.
Measure word
wun2碗wúnExamples
Do you want to go have a bowl of dessert soup after dinner?
The dessert soup at this shop is very famous.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse this with 糖水, which is the standard and far more common term for dessert soup in Hong Kong. Using 甜水 might sound slightly unusual or regional to some native speakers.
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.
