鬼仔

鬼仔

Chinese

		ghost; sly; crafty	minutely; young; duty minutely; young; duty; responsibility
trad. (鬼仔)		鬼	仔
simp. #(鬼仔)		鬼	仔

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwai² zai²
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kúi-é
• Min Nan (POJ): kúi-á

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: gwai² zai²
    • Yale: gwái jái
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwai² dzai²
    • Guangdong Romanization: guei² zei²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʷɐi̯³⁵ t͡sɐi̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kúi-é
    • Hakka Romanization System: gui` e`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gui³ e³
    • Sinological IPA (Northern, incl. Miaoli): /ku̯i³¹ e³¹⁻¹¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Southern, incl. Meinong): /ku̯i³¹ e³¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kúi-á
    • Tâi-lô: kuí-á
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kuyar
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kui⁵³⁻⁴⁴ a⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kui⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ a⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kui⁵³⁻⁴⁴ a⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kui⁵³⁻⁴⁴ a⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kui⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ a⁴¹/

Noun

鬼仔

1. (Cantonese, derogatory) male foreigner; Caucasian boy or young male

   • 那就正如我們在香港一起長大的中小學同學，移民或留學外國數年，回流後便扮作鬼妹鬼仔，不是滿口只說英語便是每一句廣東話也要夾雜一兩個英文字，甚或是說有鬼佬口音的廣東話！ [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     那就正如我们在香港一起长大的中小学同学，移民或留学外国数年，回流后便扮作鬼妹鬼仔，不是满口只说英语便是每一句广东话也要夹杂一两个英文字，甚或是说有鬼佬口音的广东话！ [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2010, 余迪偉, 《筆舉直插》, page 11

     naa⁵ zau⁶ zing³ jyu⁴ ngo⁵ mun⁴ zoi⁶ hoeng¹ gong² jat¹ hei² zoeng² daai⁶ dik¹ zung¹ siu² hok⁶ tung⁴ hok⁶, ji⁴ man⁴ waak⁶ lau⁴ hok⁶ ngoi⁶ gwok³ sou³ nin⁴, wui⁴ lau⁴ hau⁶ bin⁶ baan⁶ zok³ gwai² mui^6-1 gwai² zai², bat¹ si⁶ mun⁵ hau² zi² syut³ jing¹ jyu⁵ bin⁶ si⁶ mui⁵ jat¹ geoi³ gwong² dung¹ waa^6-2 jaa⁵ jiu³ gaap³ zaap⁶ jat¹ loeng⁵ go³ jing¹ man⁴ zi⁶, sam⁶ waak⁶ si⁶ syut³ jau⁵ gwai² lou² hau² jam¹ dik¹ gwong² dung¹ waa^6-2! [Jyutping]

     It's just like our primary or secondary school classmates who grew up with us in Hong Kong. After immigrating to studying abroad for many years, when they come back, they act like foreigners. If it is not speaking only English, it is putting a few English words into every sentence of Cantonese, or even speaking Cantonese with a whitewashed accent.

2. (Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka) ghost
3. (Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien) little devil from hell
4. (Xiamen and Quanzhou Hokkien, playing cards) joker
5. (Quanzhou Hokkien) domestic servant (used by women as a nickname, sometimes in a rebuking manner)

Synonyms

• (ghost):

Dialectal synonyms of 鬼 (“ghost”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		鬼
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		鬼, 鬼魂, 亡靈, 亡魂, 幽靈, 幽魂
Mandarin	Beijing	鬼
	Taiwan	鬼
	Yantai (Muping)	鬼
	Jinan	鬼
	Wanrong	鬼
	Xi'an	鬼
	Xining	鬼
	Ürümqi	鬼
	Chengdu	鬼, 二五子
	Guilin	鬼
	Liuzhou	鬼, 矮老子
	Yangzhou	鬼
	Nanjing	鬼
	Singapore	鬼, 好兄弟
	Sokuluk (Gansu Dungan)	鬼
	Dagudi (Maliba)	鬼
	Reshuitang (Longling)	鬼
	Mae Salong (Lancang)	鬼
	Mae Sai (Tengchong)	鬼
	Oudomxay	鬼
Cantonese	Guangzhou	鬼
	Hong Kong	鬼, 污糟嘢, 嗰啲嘢
	Dongguan	鬼
	Singapore (Guangfu)	鬼, 好兄弟
Gan	Nanchang	鬼
	Lichuan	鬼
Hakka	Meixian	鬼
	Yudu	鬼
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	鬼, 鬼仔
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	鬼, 鬼仔
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	鬼, 鬼仔
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	鬼
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	鬼, 鬼仔
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	鬼
Huizhou	Jixi	鬼
Jin	Taiyuan	鬼
Min Bei	Jian'ou	鬼
Min Dong	Fuzhou	鬼
Min Nan	Xiamen	鬼
	Quanzhou	鬼
	Zhangzhou	鬼
	Tainan	鬼仔
	Penang (Hokkien)	鬼
	Singapore (Hokkien)	鬼, 好兄弟
	Manila (Hokkien)	鬼
	Singapore (Teochew)	鬼
Wu	Shanghai	鬼, 野客, 徐天老爺
	Suzhou	鬼
	Hangzhou (Fuyang)	鬼, 老本煙
	Wenzhou	鬼
	Jinhua	鬼
Xiang	Changsha	鬼, 矮路子, 浸老倌, 田几麼, 田老倌
	Xiangxiang	鬼
	Loudi	鬼
	Hengshan	鬼

• (joker): 鬼牌 (guǐpái), 皇牌, 小丑牌, 百搭牌

Derived terms

死查某鬼仔 水鬼仔 耳空鬼仔 送鬼仔 鬼仔人 鬼仔墟

鬼仔屁 鬼仔火 養鬼仔／养鬼仔 鬼仔戲／鬼仔戏 鬼仔節／鬼仔节 鬼仔風／鬼仔风

See also

• 鬼佬 (guǐlǎo)
• 番鬼仔 (faan1 gwai2 zai2)