墨西哥人
mak⁶ sai¹ go¹ jan⁴
The English phrase "mexican" can be translated into Cantonese as 墨西哥人 (mak⁶ sai¹ go¹ jan⁴).
墨西哥人 is a noun used to refer to a person from Mexico or of Mexican descent.
Meaning: person from Mexico or of Mexican descent (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term is composed of 墨西哥, which is a phonetic transliteration and 人 (person).
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun is formed by appending the person indicator 人 to the country name 墨西哥.
How do you pronounce it?
mak⁶ sai¹ go¹ jan⁴
Did you know?
- The character 色 in 墨西哥 can mean 'color' or 'lust', but in the context of 'Mexican', it is used strictly for its sound to mimic the 'co' in Mexico.
- The character 西 in 墨西哥 refers to the direction 'west', which is common in names of Western countries to signify their geographic location relative to China.
- The character 墨 in 墨西哥 means 'ink', which is an unusual way to phonetically represent a foreign name.
Examples in context
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a new neighbor.
- 俊傑 Chun Kit你知唔知新搬嚟嗰個人係邊個？nei5 zi1 m4 zi1 go2 san1 bun1 lei4 go2 jan4 hai6 bin1 go3?Do you know who the person who just moved in is?
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan佢係一個墨西哥人，好親切。keoi5 hai6 jat1 go3 mok6 sei6 go1 jan4, hou2 can1 cit3.He is a Mexican and is very friendly.
- 俊傑 Chun Kit真係咩？佢係嚟香港工作定係讀書？zan1 hai6 me1? keoi5 hai6 lei4 hoeng1 gong2 gung1 zok3 ding6 hai6 duk6 syu1?Really? Is he in Hong Kong for work or study?
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan聽講佢係嚟呢度教西班牙文。ting1 gong2 keoi5 hai6 lei4 ni1 dou6 gaau3 hei1 ban1 ji1 man4 wan2.I heard he is here to teach Spanish.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “mexican” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
