悶 / 闷
mun⁶
In Cantonese, the word for being bored is 悶 / 闷 (mun⁶).
The word 悶 / 闷 is used to describe the feeling of being bored or feeling stifled/stagnant.
Meaning: suffering from boredom (adj)
What does it mean word for word?
The character 悶 / 闷 literally carries the sense of being 'stuffy' or 'stifled', which is why it is used for both physical stuffiness and mental boredom.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say you are 'very bored', you use the adjective 好 (hou2) before 悶 (mun⁶). To express the act of 'feeling' bored, you can use the verb 覺得 (gok3 dak6) before 悶 (mun⁶).
How do you pronounce it?
mun⁶
Did you know?
- The character 悶 contains the radical for 'door' 門 with a 'heart' 心 trapped inside. This visual structure perfectly mirrors the meaning of being 'stifled' or 'trapped' in a state of boredom.
- When describing weather, 悶 is used to describe the heavy, oppressive heat that precedes a thunderstorm. It captures that specific sensation of heat that feels thick and inescapable.
- While 悶 describes boredom, the Cantonese expression for 'killing time' uses the verb 殺 (saat3), which literally means 'to kill'. This creates a vivid image of actively destroying time to escape the feeling of being 悶.
Examples in context
- 好無聊，真係冇咩事做。I'm so bored, there's really nothing to do.
- 呢份工好悶，每日做嘢都一成不變。This job is so boring, it's the same thing every day.
- 無聊到死，我真係唔想再喺度坐低。Bored to death, I really don't want to sit here anymore.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “bored” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
