賣 / 卖
maai⁶
The Cantonese word for 'sell' is 賣 / 卖 (maai⁶).
The verb 賣 / 卖 is used to agree to transfer goods or provide services for payment. In casual speech, the verb 賣 (maai6) is often followed by 嘢 (je5), meaning 'things', to create the phrase 賣嘢, which means 'to sell things'.
Meaning: to agree to transfer goods or provide services for payment (verb)
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that something has been sold, the aspect marker 咗 (zo2) is added after the verb, forming 賣咗.
How do you pronounce it?
maai⁶
Did you know?
- The character for 'sell' 賣 contains the radical for 'shell' 貝 at the bottom, which was the primary currency in ancient China before coins.
- The word 賣 (maai6) is a tonal counterpart to 買 (maai5), which means 'to buy'. In spoken Cantonese, the only difference between 'buying' and 'selling' is the pitch of your voice.
- While 賣 means 'sell', Cantonese uses the phrase 賣力 to mean 'working hard' or 'putting in great effort', literally 'selling one's strength'.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “sell” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
