wu1 gang2惡鯁恶鲠
Definition
Unpalatable and hard to swallow, or figuratively difficult to deal with.
- not tasty and hard to swallow
- figurativehard to deal with; troublesome
How it's used
Originally describing food that is tough or dry and difficult to chew, this term has evolved to describe any situation or person that is stubborn, unreasonable, or unpleasant to interact with. It carries a strong sense of resistance, implying that the subject is not just bad, but actively difficult to process or digest. Use it when you want to emphasize that someone is being particularly uncooperative or a task is especially tedious.
Examples
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 哽親, which refers to the physical act of choking on food. While 惡鯁 relates to the quality of the food or the difficulty of a situation, 哽親 is strictly about the medical or physical accident of having something stuck in your throat.
Grammar color guide
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
