zi2梓
Jyutpingzi2
Yalejí
Definition
A species of catalpa tree, or figuratively used to refer to one's hometown or a woodcutter.
- the catalpa tree
- literaryone's hometown
- archaica woodcutter or printer
writtenplaces
How it's used
Refers primarily to one's hometown or place of origin in a literary or formal sense. It is rarely used in everyday spoken Cantonese to mean a carpenter or the tree itself, as those meanings are largely confined to classical texts or specific compound nouns.
Examples
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the common character 子, which sounds identical in many contexts but is used for children or as a suffix. Using 梓 in casual conversation to mean child or person is incorrect and will sound confusing to native speakers.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
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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).
