蒜頭 / 蒜头
syun³ tau⁴
The Cantonese word for garlic is 蒜頭 / 蒜头, pronounced syun³ tau⁴.
This noun refers to the plant garlic, specifically describing the bulb or head of the plant.
Meaning: plant (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term 蒜頭 (syun³ tau⁴) literally means 'garlic head', where 頭 (tau4) refers to the head or bulb of the plant.
How do you pronounce it?
syun³ tau⁴
Did you know?
- In traditional Cantonese culture, garlic is often used as a protective charm against evil spirits and is sometimes hung near doorways to ward off bad luck.
- The word 蒜 (syun³) is used in the phrase 算啦 (syun³ laa¹), which means 'forget it' or 'let it be'. While they are different characters in formal writing, they sound identical in speech.
- The 'head' in 蒜頭 refers specifically to the structural bulb, and the Cantonese language uses this 'body part' metaphor for many vegetables to describe their shape.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “garlic” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
