硬骨頭

简 硬骨头 · 繁 硬骨頭
Cantonese · source Jyutpingngaang6 gwat1 tau4

Meanings

  1. (noun) a tough guy
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

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

Same syllable, six tones

ngaangngaang1—ngaang2—ngaang3—ngaang4—ngaang5—硬ngaang6hard
gwat骨gwat1bonegwat2—gwat3—gwat4—gwat5—掘gwat6to dig

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

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-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

  • 硬骨頭 yìng gǔ tou CC-CEDICT · Mandarinresolute individual; a hard nut to crack; tough mission; difficult task

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: ying4 gu3 tou5. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

noun

  1. (figurative) strong-willed person; person of unyielding character
  2. (figurative) hard nut; arduous task; tough issue

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

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

CC-Canto · Pleco Inc. · edition 2017-02-02
Source line 13,967 · Original publisher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edition & transformations

Mandarin comparison: CC-CEDICT 2026-10-13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source reading differences and six-tone sets: computed by zimai from Unihan 17.0.0 (Unicode License V3).

Exact source record & identity硬骨頭 硬骨头 [ying4 gu3 tou5] {ngaang6 gwat1 tau4} /(noun) a tough guy/

SHA-256: 6fe8876df60a5b4e6997c86dbe7f7f460a2b0c9cf7fb757069e9ec7bd4b328bd