國家 / 国家
gwok³ gaa¹
The English word "country" is translated into Cantonese as 國家 / 国家 (gwok³ gaa¹).
The term is used to refer to a nation state.
Meaning: nation state (noun)
Which one should you use?
The term 國度 is also a formal way to say country.
How do you pronounce it?
gwok³ gaa¹
Did you know?
- While 國家 means 'country', the character 家 actually means 'family' or 'home'. This reflects an ancient cultural view of the state as an extension of the kinship system.
- While 國家 refers to a political nation, if you want to talk about the 'countryside' or rural areas, you would use the word 鄉下 instead.
- The character 國 in 國家 contains the radical for 'city' or 'walled enclosure', reflecting ancient traditions where a country was a collection of fortified settlements.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “country” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
