鳩嗚

Chinese

		without reason; frivolously; carelessly	(onomat. for humming)
trad. (鳩嗚)		鳩	嗚
simp. (鸠呜)		鸠	呜

Etymology

From Mandarin 購物／购物 (gòuwù, “shopping”), from an Internet meme in 2014. During a news report, an anti-Occupy Central protester was asked why she was at the protest. She forgot how to say “shopping” in Cantonese and replied with gòuwù, exposing her identity as a Mainlander.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gau¹ wu¹

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: gau¹ wu¹
    • Yale: gāu wū
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gau¹ wu¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: geo¹ wu¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kɐu̯⁵⁵ wuː⁵⁵/

Verb

鳩嗚 (Hong Kong Cantonese, neologism)

1. (humorous) to go shopping
2. to talk nonsense; to shout frivolously