靚 / 靓
leng³
The everyday Cantonese word for pretty is 靚 / 靓 (leng³). It describes someone, often a woman or a child, as good-looking or beautiful.
靚 means good-looking, beautiful or pretty and works for people as well as things. In casual speech it is also used to mean excellent or great when talking about a situation or a performance.
Meaning: especially of women and children: pleasant, attractive (adj)
Which one should you use?
To say very pretty, put the intensifier 好 (hou2) in front to get 好靚. The formal word 秀麗 is narrower and describes someone who looks elegant and graceful.
How does it change in a sentence?
When 靚 comes before a noun, as in a pretty girl, speakers commonly add the particle 嘅 (ge3) after it, so very pretty in that position becomes 好靚嘅.
How do you pronounce it?
It is a single syllable, leng³, said with the third tone of Cantonese, which is a mid level tone.
When do people say it?
Several set expressions are built on it. 靚女 refers to a pretty young woman, 靚妹 to a pretty girl and 靚仔 to a handsome boy or young man and all three are used as friendly compliments.
Did you know?
- When talking about a price or a deal, describing it as 靚 (leng³) means it is an exceptionally favorable bargain.
- While 靚仔 (leng3 zai1) literally means 'handsome boy', it functions as a generic, friendly title for male service staff in Hong Kong regardless of their looks.
- Even though 靚女 means 'pretty girl', using it to get a woman's attention can actually come across as patronizing or overly flirtatious depending on the social context.
Examples in context
- 你真係好靚！You are really pretty!
- 今日你好靚啊！You look so pretty today!
- 你係個靚女。You are a beautiful woman.
- 佢係個靚仔。He is a handsome guy.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “pretty” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
