鬼佬

鬼佬

Chinese

		ghost; sly; crafty	man; guy
simp. and trad. (鬼佬)		鬼	佬

Etymology

Originally Cantonese. From the supposed resemblance of Portuguese and other European skin tones to ghosts.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): guǐlǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨㄟˇ ㄌㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gwai² lou²

• Min Dong (BUC): gūi-lō̤

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: guǐlǎo [Phonetic: guílǎo]
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄟˇ ㄌㄠˇ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: goeilao
    • IPA ^(key): /ku̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed)⁺
    • Pinyin: guǐlǎor [Phonetic: guílǎor]
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨㄟˇ ㄌㄠˇㄦ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: goeilaol
    • IPA ^(key): /ku̯eɪ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ laʊɻʷ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: gwai² lou²
    • Yale: gwái lóu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gwai² lou²
    • Guangdong Romanization: guei² lou²
    • IPA ^(key): /kʷɐi̯³⁵ lou̯³⁵/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: gūi-lō̤
    • IPA ^(key): /kuoi³³⁻³⁵ l̃o³³/

Noun

鬼佬

1. (chiefly Cantonese, Min Dong, colloquial, derogatory, usually offensive, ethnic slur) gweilo; "foreign devil" (particularly a European); Caucasian; whitey

Usage notes

• A derogatory term for white people, particularly men, mainly in speech. Prior to the 1980s, the term was commonly prefixed in Cantonese by 死 (sei2, “damned”), with the meaning "damned ghost fucker, damned foreign devil".
• Not commonly used among Mandarin speakers.

Synonyms

• 老外 (lǎowài)
• 西人 (xīrén)
• (Min Nan) 阿啄仔

Derived terms

鬼佬月餅／鬼佬月饼 鬼佬涼茶／鬼佬凉茶 鬼佬話／鬼佬话

鬼佬餐 (guǐlǎocān) 鬼佬齋／鬼佬斋

Descendants

• → English: gweilo, gwailo, kwailo

See also

• 鬼子 (guǐzi)
• 鬼婆 (guǐpó)
• 鬼仔
• 鬼妹 (guǐmèi)
• 白鬼 (báiguǐ)
• 黑鬼 (hēiguǐ)