啩

啩 U+5569, 啩 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5569 ← 啨 [U+5568] CJK Unified Ideographs 啪 → [U+556A]

Translingual

Han character

啩 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 口土土卜 (RGGY), composition ⿰口卦)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 196, character 26
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 1, page 636, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5569

Chinese

simp. and trad.		啩
alternative forms		𫫔

Etymology

Fusion of 估 (gu2, “to guess”) and 啊 (aa3, “sentence final particle”) (Chao, 1947). This is supported by attestation of the unfused version in Early Cantonese:

我睇得你中意麵餅估呀 [Cantonese, trad.]

---

我睇得你中意面饼估呀 [Cantonese, simp.]

From: 1841, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, A Chinese Chrestomathy in the Canton Dialect

ngo⁵ tai² dak¹ nei⁵ zung¹ ji³ min⁶ beng² gu² aa³ [Jyutping]

I think you will rather prefer some cake, will you not?

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): guà (gua⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨㄚˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwaa³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: guà
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄚˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: guà
    • Wade–Giles: kua⁴
    • Yale: gwà
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: guah
    • Palladius: гуа (gua)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku̯ä⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gwaa³
    • Yale: gwa
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwaa³
    • Guangdong Romanization: gua³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷaː³³/

Definitions

啩

1. (Cantonese) Sentence final particle indicating uncertainty in a statement; implies that the speaker is not sure whether what he/she says is true.

   我返屋企食麵啩。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我返屋企食面啩。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ faan¹ uk¹ kei² sik⁶ min⁶ gwaa³. [Jyutping]

   I'm going to go home and eat noodles, I guess.

   • 1899, 馬可福音：中西字 [The Gospel according to St. Mark in English and Cantonese], Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 36:

     門生彼此議論話、係因我哋冇餅啩。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     门生彼此议论话、系因我哋冇饼啩。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     mun⁴ sang¹ bei² ci² ji⁵ leon⁶ waa⁶, hai⁶ jan¹ ngo⁵ dei⁶ mou⁵ beng² gwaa³. [Jyutping]

     And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

Usage notes

In Mainland China, the implication of uncertainty has weakened due to confusion with Mandarin 吧 (ba).

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 吧 (“(sentence-final particle indicating speculation)”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		吧
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	吧
	Singapore	吧
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	吧
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	吧
Cantonese	Guangzhou	啩
	Hong Kong	啩
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	啩
	Taishan	估啊
	Kaiping (Chikan)	估啊
	Enping (Niujiang)	估啊
	Dongguan	啩

Vietnamese

Han character

啩: Hán Nôm readings: quấy

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