Add intrigue to your Cantonese with phrases related to ‘disappearing’, ‘vanishing’ and ‘hiding’

South China Morning Post

Exploring a selection of Cantonese phrases related to the concepts of “disappearing”, “hiding”, and “running away” can be fun and useful, as Post editor Luisa Tam explains.

Transcript

00:00 Hi everybody, I'm back! It's been quite some time since I've been here. I apologize for

00:04 my absence, but I have returned with some linguistic gifts for budding Chinese speakers.

00:09 Today we'll be looking at some Cantonese phrases related to disappearing, guilty as charged,

00:19 hiding and running away. Cantonese has a rich variety of phrases that vividly describe the

00:24 concept of hiding. These words often employ colorful metaphors as opposed to literal

00:29 expressions to convey their meaning. First, a very popular Hong Kong slang term is 潜水.

00:35 It literally means "go diving", but it's more of a metaphor and is commonly used when

00:40 someone is intentionally withdrawing from public view or avoiding attention. In a sentence

00:45 you can say "What happened? Why have you gone 潜水 for so long?" 潜水. Another

00:50 fun phrase is 走佬, which means "to flee or abscond". Very often someone would 走佬

00:56 to escape the long arm of the law. For example, you can say "The people responsible for that

01:01 dodgy cryptocurrency investment platform went 走佬 before the police launched their investigation."

01:07 When someone has gone 走佬, they have 消失, vanished. You can say "So and so has 消失

01:12 without a trace." 消失. Next one, 玩失踪, play missing. If a person is 玩失踪,

01:18 it means they are trying to hide themselves. Judy 玩失踪 to avoid running into her

01:23 ex. 玩失踪. A similar phrase is 冇浮頭, meaning "not emerging from the water". It

01:29 can be used alongside the phrase 潜水, go diving. Putting the two phrases together,

01:34 you can say "After fighting with his friends at the recent Christmas party, David, 冇

01:38 浮頭 for weeks, I believe he has gone 潜水 to avoid bumping into them." The next two

01:43 phrases are more serious ways to describe someone that is missing. First, 人間蒸發,

01:49 which means "to disappear from the face of the earth". 人間 means "the earth",

01:54 and 蒸發 means "evaporate". 人間蒸發 is one of my favorites as the literal

01:58 meaning evokes such a clear image. Here's an example, "After the family reunion, Danny

02:04 seems to have 人間蒸發, and no one has heard from him. Maybe someone should call

02:08 the police." Another quite serious sounding phrase is 無影無蹤, "no shadow, no trace".

02:14 It's often used to describe the complete disappearance of something or someone without

02:19 leaving any trace behind. Similar to the previous example, you can say "Danny has gone 無影無蹤

02:25 after the family reunion. Everyone is so worried." If you want to be more casual, you can say

02:29 唔見咗, which means "missing". The phrase means someone or something has disappeared

02:35 and is nowhere to be seen. In a sentence, you can say "My wallet was here a minute

02:40 ago, and now 唔見咗!" Now a bonus phrase, 不見不散, translated

02:45 to "Don't see, don't leave". This phrase is often used in a playful manner, suggesting

02:50 that if someone wants to disappear, they shouldn't leave without saying goodbye, in a way you're

02:55 indirectly warning them not to disappear on you and be present. In a sentence, you can

03:00 say "We haven't celebrated Christmas together for years, so this year you must come to my

03:04 party. 不見不散, ok?"

03:08 不見不散. Remember that Cantonese is a tonal language, so the pronunciation is crucial.

03:13 It's always helpful to listen to native speakers or consult audio resources to get

03:18 the correct pronunciation and intonation.

03:20 Ok, we have a lot to recap! 潛水 go diving, a metaphorical way of saying going into hiding.

03:27 潛水潛水潛水走路 is to flee. 走路走路走路消失 to vanish.

03:36 消失消失消失. Next one is 玩失踪, play missing. 玩失踪玩失踪玩失踪.

03:46 冇蒲頭 not emerging from the water. 冇蒲頭冇蒲頭冇蒲頭.

03:53 人間蒸發 to disappear from the face of the earth. 人間蒸發人間蒸發人間蒸發.

04:01 無影無蹤 no shadow no trace. 無影無蹤無影無蹤無影無蹤.

04:09 A more casual phrase for missing is 唔見咗唔見咗唔見咗唔見咗.

04:16 A bonus phrase 不見不散 don't see don't leave. 不見不散不見不散不見不散.

04:24 I hope you enjoyed today's session and find these phrases useful. Don't forget to practice

04:28 Cantonese loudly and proudly. See you all soon. 唔見唔見唔散.

04:32 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:34 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:36 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:38 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:40 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:42 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:44 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:46 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:48 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:50 Thank you for watching. 再見

04:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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