ziu1招
Jyutpingziu1
Yalejīu
Definition
To attract, incur, or court something bad.
colloquialpeopleother
How it's used
Focuses on the negative consequences of one's own actions or presence. It implies that the subject has actively invited or provoked an undesirable outcome, rather than just being a passive victim of bad luck. It is frequently used in the context of social friction or unnecessary drama.
Examples
Doing that really easily courts trouble.
He always talks nonsense and ended up attracting a lot of trouble.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with the meaning of beckoning or waving, which is common in formal or written Chinese but rarely used in this sense in spoken Cantonese. In daily speech, 招 is almost exclusively used for attracting trouble or negative attention.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
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.
