Cantonese vocabulary: Vehicles and modes of transportation
Why have I not made this list earlier??
BIL’s fiancée was over one evening and E wanted his bedtime reading from a Search & Find book and I was flexing my vocabulary muscles trying to find new things to point out and teach him new words even if there is no story to those images. I found myself with no words for fairly basic objects like saddle, tractor and wheelbarrow in a farm scene.
I could describe what a saddle, tractor and wheelbarrow are for but it grated on me that I couldn’t give him a word yet I knew there was an English word he would love and that would enrich his life. Instead, I was using the same old words to describe a concept (which isn’t that bad either). I was feeling truly remiss that I’m not increasing my vocabulary in response to his curiosity.
As I’ve noted in my bilingualism updates, there are words that E knows he was introduced to in Chinese first and doesn’t come across quite as often and so it seems the Chinese word becomes established. I’m quite proud of those words. For vehicles, he has so many English words but it’s not too late for him to learn there’s another word, a “private word” for me and him, that I can switch to.
Name | Characters | Pronunciation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
EMERGENCY VEHICLES | |||
Police car | 警察車 | ging2 caat3 ce1 | |
Ambulance | 救護車 | gau3 wu6 ce1 | |
救傷車 | gau3 soeng1 ce1 | ||
Fire engine | 火燭車 | fo2 zuk1 ce1 | |
消防車 | siu1 fong4 ce1 | ||
PERSONAL VEHICLES | |||
Car | 車 | ce1 | |
* Convertible | 開篷車 | hoi1 pung4 ce1 | |
Bicycle | 單車 | daan1 ce1 | |
Tricyle | 三輪車 | saam1 leon4 ce1 | |
Tandem bicycle | 串聯單車 | cyun3 lyun4*2 daan1 ce1 | 聯 is the same character in Soviet Union |
Skateboard | 滑板 | waat6 baan2 | "slide board" |
Scooter | 綿羊仔 | min4 joeng4*2 zai2 | e.g., Vespa |
Motorcycle | 電單車 | din6 daan1 ce1 | |
Van | 轀仔 | wan1 zai2 | E says "vay-en" whic his cute |
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES | |||
Bus | 巴士 | baa1 si6*2 | sounds like English! |
* School bus | 校巴 | haau6 baa1 | |
Taxi | 的士 | dik1 si6*2 | sounds like English! |
Train | 火車 | fo2 ce1 | |
* Subway | 地鐵 | dei6 tit3 | |
Freight truck | 貨車 | fo3 ce1 | |
Limo | 小轎車 | siu2 giu6*2 ce1 | |
Garbage truck | 垃圾車 | laap6 saap3 ce1 | |
Tow truck | 拖車 | to1 ce1 | |
Snow plough | 剷雪車 | caan2 syut3 ce1 | |
Zamboni | 鋪冰機 | pou1 bing1 gei1 | "lay ice machine" |
Submarine | 潛水艇 | cim4 seoi2 teng5 | |
CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES | |||
Cement mixer | 水泥攪拌車 | seoi2 nai4 gaau2 bun6 ce1 | "water dirt mixing car" |
田螺車 | tin4 lo4*2 ce1 | "snail car" | |
Bulldozer | 推土機 | teoi1 tou2 gei1 | "push dirt machine" |
鏟泥車 | caan2 nai4 ce1 | "shovel dirt car" | |
Crane | 吊機 | diu3 gei1 | "hanging machine" |
Excavator | 挖掘機 | waat3 gwat6 gei1 | "scratch dig machine" |
Dump truck | 泥頭車 | nai4 tau4 ce1 | "dirt head car" |
Forklift | 叉車 | caa1 ce1 | "fork car" |
FARM VEHICLES | |||
Tractor | 拖拉機 | to1 laai1 gei1 | "drag pull machine" |
Wheelbarrow | 手(推)車 | sau2 (teoi1) ce1 |