Hong Kong Code-mixing Dictionary

Definition: A code-mixing term that local Hong Kong university students love to use instead of '講座', which means a formal talk on a subject by a professor.

Usage: E.g. 其實上lecture根本浪費時間。

Synonym: 講座

Reference: https://lihkg.com/thread/475538/page/2

Definition: Often used as '升le' (呢), this is a code-mixing term that Hong Kongers use to refer to having made an advancement in something. (升級)

Usage: E.g. 哇！今次考試表現好左好多喎。簡直係升呢呀！

Synonym: 升級

Reference: http://www.cmi.hku.hk/Ref/Article/article02/01.html

Definition: A code-mixing term that working class Hong Kongers love to use to refer to sending a copy of an email message to another recipient.

Usage: E.g. 份email記住cc埋比所有人。

Synonym: 抄送

Definition: A code-mixing term used by native Hong Kongers to refer to a restaurant located inside a school or company. However, it is worth noting that the origin of the word is from Europe and should not to be confused with ‘can-ting’ or ‘can-teng’ in Mandarin or Cantonese (餐廳), which start with the ‘ts’ sound instead of ‘k’ sound in ‘can’.

Usage: E.g. 今日好多人呀！快啲落canteen霸位啦！(There are so many people today! Let's go to the canteen to hog the seats first!)

Synonym: 飯堂; 食堂 ; 餐廳

Reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSKkZbOEqPJ/ (use mobile version)

Definition: (adj) A code-mixing term that Hong Kongers use to describe something that is very unadvanced in technology.  There is a famous quote that goes "High Tech揩野，Low Tech撈野", which describes the volatility of high-tech products as opposed to low-tech products that have a larger market despite high competition. '撈' refers to '有得撈', which means you can earn a living.

Usage: E.g. 今時今日唔可以再咁low tech架喇。快D買返部智能手機啦。

Reference: https://www.lib.eduhk.hk/pure-data/pub/201902353/201902353_1.pdf

Definition: (adj.) A code-mixing term used by working class Hong Kongers to describe the small miniscule parts of something or something as being comprehensive.

Usage: E.g. 因為隻舞係我哋自己編，Sean同大Hugo編，佢哋知道個detail位係邊，佢哋講得好清楚，所以就好快上手啦 (Because the dance was being arranged by us - Sean and Hugo. They knew the detailed parts of it and explained it very well so we could learn it so quickly.) E.g. 洗唔洗咁detail呀？ (Does it need to be that detailed / comprehensive?)

Synonym: 細緻; 詳細

Reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZHDDcIFiMy/?igsh=MW00bDQyZ2ZvdHkwMQ== (use mobile version)

Definition: A code-mixing term that is often used by Hong Kongers instead of '在家工作'.

Usage: E.g. 我今日真係爽呀，可以work from home。成日煲netflix都得啦！

Synonym: 在家工作

Definition: A shortened code-mixing term that refers to the verb 'graduate'.  Sometimes, it is used as a noun.

Usage: E.g. 同學：你唔係怕grad唔到呀嗎？ 同事：你做左幾年野？。你：我係fresh grad黎架。

Reference: https://holiday.presslogic.com/article/224449/港式-廣東話-中英夾雜-口語-香港人-搭lift-食lunch

Definition: A code-mixing phrase used by overseas educated Hong Kongers to describe something as more inferior in quality than another without saying it's of bad quality.

Usage: E.g. 我去過呢間bar。It's even worse!

Synonym: 更加差

Reference: https://lihkg.com/thread/3047481/page/1

Definition: A code-mixing term that Hong Kongers like to use to refer to the language channel that one is speaking in.

Usage: E.g. 做咩成日轉channel講英文呀？你喺到扮ABC呀？ E.g. 咪住。等我轉一轉channel講返中文先。