tou2 paau3土炮
Jyutpingtou2 paau3
Yaletóu paau
Definition
Hand-rolled or custom-made, particularly in programming without using third-party libraries.
colloquialtechnologywork
How it's used
Originally referring to homemade artillery or improvised weapons, this term has been adopted by the tech community to describe code or systems built from scratch without external dependencies. It carries a nuance of being resourceful but potentially less stable or professional than standard industry solutions. Use it to highlight that something is custom-built rather than off-the-shelf.
Examples
This system was written from scratch.
Are you still using a hand-rolled solution to process data?
Related words
Common mistake
Do not use this to describe something that is simply 'bad' or 'broken'. It specifically emphasizes the 'do-it-yourself' or 'home-grown' nature of the implementation, regardless of its actual quality.
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.
