CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

生人唔生膽

简生人唔生胆 · 繁生人唔生膽

Cantonese · source Jyutpingsaang1 jan4 m4 sang1 daam2

(slang) describes someone who is chicken-hearted; timid; fearful; gutless; spineless

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

saang11 · high leveljan44 · low fallingm44 · low fallingsang11 · high leveldaam22 · high rising

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Reading difference from Unihan

生 has the reading saang1 here; Unihan’s citation reading is sang1. Different syllable across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 生 saang1 as its own entry.

Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).

Same syllable, six tones

saangsaang1—省saang2to savesaang3—saang4—saang5—saang6—

jan因jan1cause 隐jan2secret 印jan3to print 人jan4man 引jan5to seduce or tempt 孕jan6pregnant

mm1—呣m2m3—唔m4notm5—m6—

sang生sang1to be bornsang2—蹭sang3to rub againstsang4—sang5—sang6—

daam担daam1to undertake 胆daam2gall bladderdaam3—daam4—daam5—淡daam6insipid

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

生人唔膽胆

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: sheng1 ren2 n2 sheng1 dan3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saang1 jan4 m4 saang1 daam2

Cantonese word readings for 生人唔生膽. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(Cantonese) cowardly; lacking courage

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack