咖喱
gaa³ lei¹
In Cantonese, the word for curry is 咖喱 (gaa³ lei¹).
The term 咖喱 is used to refer to the dish itself, or more specifically to the curry sauce or curry powder commonly found in Cantonese street food dishes, such as curry fish balls.
Meaning: dish (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is a phonetic loanword used to approximate the sound of the word from English or Hindi. The character 咖 (gaa1) and 喱 (lei1) are used to represent the sound.
How do you pronounce it?
gaa³ lei¹
When do people say it?
In Hong Kong and Cantonese cuisine, 咖喱 is a staple element in popular street food.
Did you know?
- Unlike Indian curry, the 咖喱 found in Cantonese tea cafes is often a milder, thicker sauce influenced by British colonial tastes.
- The character 喱 is a relatively uncommon character in standard Chinese, appearing primarily in these types of phonetic transcriptions for foreign foods and names.
- A popular Hong Kong comfort food is 'curry beef brisket', where 咖喱 is fused with a traditional Chinese slow-cooked meat dish.
Examples in context
- 咖喱魚蛋一蚊一粒。The curry fish balls are one dollar each.This sentence shows how to price curry fish balls using the form 咖喱.Tatoeba #675825 by nickyeow, translation #675826 by nickyeow
- 「請問咖喱要咩辣？」「有幾辣得幾辣！」"How hot would you like your curry?" "Make it as spicy as you can!"This sentence demonstrates a conversation about the spiciness level of 咖喱.Tatoeba #11073339 by nickyeow, translation #7196363 by Babilfrenzo
- 啲人喺天氣熱嘅地方會食咖喱呢啲辣嘅嘢真係好奇怪。It's strange that people in hot climate zones eat spicy things like curry.This sentence discusses the consumption of spicy foods like 咖喱 in hot climates.Tatoeba #11073329 by nickyeow, translation #721523 by Eldad
- 我想今晚食咖哩牛肉。I feel like having curry beef tonight.
- 3 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
A couple is deciding what to eat for dinner.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan今晚食咖喱好唔好？kam1 maan5 sik6 kaa1 lei1 hou2 m4 hou2?Is it okay if we eat curry tonight?
- 家明 Ka Ming好呀，我想食咖喱雞。hou2 aa3, ngo5 soeng2 sik6 kaa1 lei1 gai1.Sure, I want to eat curry chicken.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan即係要買咖喱粉返嚟煮。zik1 hai6 jiu3 maai5 kaa1 lei1 fan6 faan1 lai4 zyu2.That means we need to buy curry powder to cook.
- 家明 Ka Ming冇問題，我哋去超市啦。mou4 man6 tai4, ngo5 dei6 heoi3 ciu1 si5 laa1.No problem, let's go to the supermarket.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “curry” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
