朱古力
The English word chocolate is translated into Cantonese as 朱古力 or 巧克力.
Meaning: food made from ground roasted cocoa beans (noun)
Ways to say it
| Cantonese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 朱古力 | |
| 巧克力 | haau² hak¹ lik⁶ |
The term refers to food made from ground roasted cocoa beans. It can also function as an adjective meaning made of or containing chocolate. To describe the color chocolate, you can use the related form 朱古力色 by adding the character 色 (color) after the word.
Which one should you use?
While both words mean chocolate, 朱古力 is the most common way to say the word in spoken Cantonese, whereas 巧克力 is more commonly used in written Chinese or formal contexts.
Related words
Did you know?
- In the phonetic transcription 朱古力, the characters '朱' (vermilion), '古' (ancient), and '力' (strength) have no semantic connection to the taste or ingredients of the food.
- While 朱古力 is the standard in Hong Kong, the form 巧克力 is more prevalent in mainland China and Taiwan.
- The use of 朱古力 reflects the historical influence of British English on Hong Kong's culinary terminology.
Examples in context
- 將塊朱古力整成細塊。Break the chocolate into small pieces.This sentence shows how to use 朱古力 when instructing someone to break it into pieces.Tatoeba #750907 by kaenif, translation #750906 by sctld
- 啲朱古力蛋糕隨便食喎。Please help yourself to the chocolate cake.This sentence demonstrates the use of 朱古力 when referring to a chocolate cake.Tatoeba #552860 by nickyeow, translation #541764 by darinmex
- Linda好鍾意朱古力。Linda loves chocolate.This sentence illustrates how to express a preference for 朱古力.Tatoeba #1272438 by cantonesespoken, translation #29600 by CN
- 星期天我想去買朱古力。On Sunday, I want to go buy chocolate.
- 11 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
A man and a woman are choosing a snack at a grocery store.
- 志強 Chi Keung你想食朱古力定係薯片？nei5 soeng2 sik6 zyu1 gu1 lik6 ding6 hai6 syu4 pin2?Do you want to eat chocolate or potato chips?
- 雅婷 Nga Ting我想食朱古力。ngo5 soeng2 sik6 zyu1 gu1 lik6.I want to eat chocolate.
- 志強 Chi Keung呢盒朱古力好甜呀。ni1 hap6 zyu1 gu1 lik6 hou2 tim4 aa3.This box of chocolate is very sweet.
- 雅婷 Nga Ting冇問題，我最鍾意甜嘢。mou5 man6 tai4, ngo5 zeoi3 zung1 ji3 tim4 je5.No problem, I love sweet things the most.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “chocolate” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
