Cantonese

About Cantonese

Cantonese is a form of Chinese spoken in Guangdong province in southern China, in Hong Kong and Macau and by many Chinese communities abroad, with about 73 million speakers. In Hong Kong and Macau it is the everyday spoken language, used at home, in schools and on television. Cantonese and Mandarin share most written characters, but spoken aloud they are different enough that speakers of one do not understand the other without learning it.

Cantonese is a tonal language with six tones, so the same syllable can have several meanings. Jyutping, the most common Latin spelling, puts a number after each syllable to show its tone. Cantonese has two everyday words for thank you: m4 goi1 for a small service, such as someone passing you the salt or holding a door, and do1 ze6 for a gift or a compliment. Hong Kong and Macau use traditional characters.

FamilySino-Tibetan, Chinese (Yue)
Speakersabout 73 million (2007)
Where spokensouthern China (Guangdong, Guangxi), Hong Kong, Macau, Chinese communities abroad
ScriptChinese characters (mostly traditional), Jyutping for Latin spelling
Tonessix
Codeyue (ISO 639-3)

Speaker number: Ethnologue (2007), via Wikidata. Retrieved 26 September 2026.

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