涼瓜

Chinese

		cool; cold	melon; claw; gourd melon; claw; gourd; squash
trad. (涼瓜)		涼	瓜
simp. (凉瓜)		凉	瓜

Etymology

Refers to the "coldness" of the melon according to traditional Chinese medicine. Reportedly arising from taboo of mentioning the 苦 (fu2, “bitter; misery”) in 苦瓜 (fu2 gwaa1, “bitter melon”).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): loeng⁴ gwaa¹

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: loeng⁴ gwaa¹
    • Yale: lèuhng gwā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: loeng⁴ gwaa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: lêng⁴ gua¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lœːŋ²¹ kʷaː⁵⁵/

Noun

涼瓜

1. (Cantonese) bitter melon

   涼瓜炒牛肉／凉瓜炒牛肉 [Cantonese]  ―  loeng⁴ gwaa¹ caau² ngau⁴ juk⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  stir-fried beef with bitter melon

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 苦瓜 (“bitter melon”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		苦瓜
Taxonomic name		苦瓜
Mandarin	Beijing	苦瓜
	Taiwan	苦瓜
	Langfang	苦瓜
	Tangshan	癩不頭
	Cangzhou	苦瓜
	Baoding	苦瓜
	Shijiazhuang	苦瓜
	Daming	苦瓜
	Harbin	苦瓜, 癩瓜
	Shenyang	癩瓜
	Jinan	苦瓜
	Luoyang	苦瓜
	Xi'an	苦瓜
	Yinchuan	苦瓜
	Lanzhou	苦瓜
	Xining	苦瓜
	Ürümqi	苦瓜
	Wuhan	苦瓜
	Chengdu	苦瓜
	Guiyang	苦瓜
	Guilin	苦瓜
	Liuzhou	苦瓜
	Xuzhou	苦瓜
	Nanjing	癩葡萄, 苦瓜
	Malaysia	苦瓜
	Singapore	苦瓜
Cantonese	Guangzhou	苦瓜, 涼瓜, 菩薘 dated
	Hong Kong	苦瓜, 涼瓜, 菩薘 dated
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	菩薘
	Guangzhou (Zengcheng)	苦瓜
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	菩薘
	Taishan	苦瓜
	Kaiping (Chikan)	涼瓜
	Dongguan	苦瓜, 涼瓜, 菩薘
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	菩薘
	Yangjiang	苦瓜
	Nanning	苦瓜
	Wuzhou	苦瓜
	Yulin	苦瓜
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	苦瓜
Gan	Nanchang	苦瓜
	Pengze	苦瓜
	Lichuan	苦瓜
	Pingxiang	苦瓜
Hakka	Meixian	苦瓜
	Zengcheng (Zhengguo)	苦瓜
	Yudu	苦瓜
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	苦瓜
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	苦瓜, 苦瓜仔
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	苦瓜
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	苦瓜
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	苦瓜
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	苦瓜
	Hong Kong	苦瓜
	Luchuan (Daqiao)	苦瓜
Jin	Taiyuan	苦瓜
	Zhangjiakou	苦瓜
	Handan	苦瓜
Northern Min	Jian'ou	苦瓜
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	苦瓜
	Fuqing	苦瓜
Southern Min	Xiamen	苦瓜
	Zhao'an	苦瓜
	Tainan	苦瓜
	Penang (Hokkien)	苦瓜
	Singapore (Hokkien)	苦瓜
	Zhangping (Yongfu)	苦瓜
	Datian	苦瓜
	Pingnan (Shangdu)	苦瓜
	Haifeng	苦瓜
	Haikou	苦瓜
Central Min	Yong'an	苦瓜
Zhongshan Min	Sanxiang	菩督
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	苦瓜
Northern Pinghua	Guilin (Dahe)	苦瓜
Wu	Shanghai	苦瓜
	Suzhou	苦瓜
	Danyang	癩葡萄瓜
	Hangzhou	苦瓜
	Ningbo	苦瓜
	Wenzhou	紅瓤
	Jinhua	苦瓜
Xiang	Changsha	苦瓜
	Loudi	苦瓜
	Quanzhou	苦瓜