Cantonese

From Canton +‎ -ese.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kæn.təˈniːz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kæn.təˈniz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːz

Cantonese (not comparable)

1. Relating to the city of Guangzhou (Canton) or the province of Guangdong.
2. Relating to Cantonese people.
3. Relating to Cantonese language.
4. Relating to Cantonese food/cuisine.

Cantonese (countable and uncountable, plural Cantonese)

1. (uncountable) A Sinitic language mainly spoken in the south-eastern part of Mainland China, Guangdong (Canton), Hong Kong, Macau, by the Chinese minorities in Southeast Asia and by many overseas Chinese worldwide.
   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10:

     As a mainland China national, the counter for our trial was fluent in English, Putonghua, and the Sichuan dialect, and was familiar with a number of other major Chinese languages such as Cantonese and Hakka.

   • 2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Each written word when spoken is mutually incomprehensible between a Mandarin speaker in Beijing and a Cantonese speaker in Hong Kong. If you think that’s odd, consider our number system: the symbol “9” is universally recognized but it’s pronounced “nine” in English and “devet” in Slovenian.

2. (uncountable) A dialect of the Cantonese language, spoken in Guangzhou (Canton), Hong Kong, Macau, and treated as the standard dialect of the Cantonese language.
3. (countable, chiefly in the plural) An inhabitant of Canton; a person of Canton descent.
   • 2000, Stella Dong, Shanghai The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City‎^[2], HarperCollins, page 85:

     The alliance was headed by a mustached Cantonese with a broad face, piercing eyes, and a great sympathy for the poor and downtrodden, a man who reveled in "action at all costs and whatever the risks." This was Sun Yat-sen, a visionary who lacked practical political skills but nonetheless became the hallowed "Father of the Republic" upon his death.

• As with other terms for people formed with -ese, the countable singular noun in reference to a person (as in "I am a Cantonese", "writing about Cantonese cuisine as a Cantonese") is uncommon and often taken as grammatically incorrect. In its place, the adjective is used, by itself (as in "I am Cantonese") or before a noun like person, man, or woman ("writing about Cantonese cuisine as a Cantonese person"). See also -ish, which is similarly only primarily used as an adjective or as a plural noun.

• (language): Yue Chinese, Yue, Cantonese language, Cantonese dialect
• (dialect): Cantonese dialect, Cantonese language

(language):

• Cantonese, Cantonese dialect (the dialect of Cantonese language treated as standard)
• Hoisanese/Toisanese/Taishanese (the Cantonese subdialect spoken in the Greater Hoi San area, with subsubdialects)
• Hong Kong Cantonese (the dialect spoken in Hong Kong and Macau)

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Cantonese terms
• Appendix:Cantonese Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Cantonese
• Guangdong
• Guangzhou
• Guangzhouese, Guangzhounese

• ISO 639-3 code yue (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Yue, yue ⁠

• Caen stone