鹽 / 盐
jim⁴
The Cantonese word for "salt" is 鹽 / 盐, pronounced jim⁴.
鹽 / 盐 is the common and universal noun for the substance sodium chloride. When you want to express the action of adding salt to a dish or seasoning food, you can use the verb phrases 加鹽 / 加盐 or 落鹽 / 落盐.
Meaning: sodium chloride (noun)
Which one should you use?
While 加鹽 / 加盐 means "to add salt", the phrase 落鹽 / 落盐 is more common in casual, spoken Cantonese when describing the act of seasoning food.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
jim⁴
Did you know?
- In Cantonese, describing someone as 鹹 / 咸 (haam4) does not mean they taste salty, but rather that they are stingy or overly frugal with their money.
- Ancient texts in the region often used the word 鹽 as a symbol of state power and government monopoly due to the mineral's immense historical value.
- The common Cantonese verb for adding salt, 落, literally means 'to fall' or 'to drop', treating the seasoning as if it is raining into the pot.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “salt” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
