wu1 aa1烏鴉乌鸦
Jyutpingwu1 aa1
Yalewū ā
Definition
Crow; a type of entirely black bird with a raspy cawing sound.
colloquialanimals
How it's used
Crows are culturally associated with bad luck or death in many Chinese-speaking regions, similar to the Western superstition. People often avoid mentioning them in auspicious contexts or during celebrations. The sound they make is famously described as harsh and unpleasant, which is why it is often used metaphorically to describe someone with a raspy or grating voice.
Measure word
zek3隻jekExamples
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 烏龍, which refers to a blunder or a mix-up. While both share the character 烏, they are completely unrelated in meaning.
Grammar color guide
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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).
