Cantonese Food Vocabulary: 30 Words with Jyutping

Food and drink

Begin with things that appear at the table. Pair drinks together, then contrast broad food categories such as vegetables and meat. 飯 (faan6) can refer to rice or, by extension, a meal in the game’s beginner gloss.

Local dishes

The second group moves from ingredients to recognizable dishes. Several English names, including dim sum, char siu, and siu mai, already reflect Cantonese words; Jyutping makes their Cantonese pronunciation more explicit.

At the market

Market words add prices, buying, selling, and useful descriptions. Learn 幾多錢 (gei2 do1 cin2), “How much?”, as one unit. Then practice the contrasts 平 / 貴 (cheap / expensive) and 凍 / 熱 (cold / hot).

A practical way to review all 30

• Study one ten-word group at a time instead of memorizing the whole list in order.
• Retrieve Cantonese from English, then reverse the direction on the next pass.
• Mix visually or conceptually close words so the answer requires a real distinction.
• Use Jyutping with audio and repeat each word without trying to infer pronunciation from English spelling.