McLearn® · Guide
Great Cantonese Dictionary 粵語大詞典
A complete offline Cantonese reference: 71,655 words, phrases and expressions, each with Jyutping and tap-to-hear pronunciation. Search it by characters, Jyutping, English or Mandarin, then go beyond the word list with slang, tongue twisters, children's songs and a built-in Jyutping guide.
你識唔識講廣東話？
Do you speak Cantonese? 36 seconds of the real thing, from cha chaan teng code to Gen Z slang. Captions in Jyutping and English.
The whole dictionary, on your phone.
Nothing to download and no connection needed: the full dictionary is built into the app.
| Collection | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Popular Words | The vocabulary you will actually hear every day |
| Hong Kong Gen Z Slang | 120 terms people are saying right now |
| Guangzhou Dialect Collection | Seven parts: “chicken” and “water” idioms, everyday four-character expressions, old Guangzhou street life, rhymes, sayings and the characters used only in Cantonese |
| Reduplication 疊詞 | 472 vivid AABB and ABB expressions that make Cantonese sound like Cantonese |
| Tongue Twisters 急口令 | 71 classics for sharpening your pronunciation |
| Children's Songs 童謠 | 95 nursery rhymes and playground chants |
| Three Character Classic 三字經 | 142 couplets of a playful Cantonese take on the classic primer |
Find a word however you know it.
Search matches listed synonyms too, so a near miss still finds the entry. Every result gives you the characters, the Jyutping and a clear definition.
Chinese characters
Type 你好 to find greetings.
Jyutping
Type nei5 hou2 when you know the sound but not the character.
English
Search from a meaning back to the Cantonese word.
Mandarin
Reach a Cantonese word through its Mandarin equivalent.
A guided tour of the app
An entry
The characters, the Jyutping and a speaker button sit at the top. Below them are the meanings in English and the Mandarin equivalents, then the grammar: the part of speech and how the word is used.
Tap the heart to save it to your favourites.
Culture
Everything beyond the word list lives here: Popular Words, Hong Kong Gen Z Slang, the Cantonese Three Character Classic, Reduplications, tongue twisters, children's songs and the Guangzhou dialect collection.
Three Character Classic
A playful Cantonese take on the classic primer. Each card shows the couplet, its Jyutping, the line that follows and what it means, with arrows to step through all 142.
Jyutping guide
Cantonese romanisation and the tones, from the start: the 19 initials that begin a syllable, the 53 finals, and the tones that change a word's meaning. Every example can be heard.
Grammar essentials
Sentence patterns, particles, and the usage that trips up anyone translating from Mandarin, such as 先 coming after the verb: 你行先, “you go first”.
Cantonese-only characters
Part of the Guangzhou collection: characters such as 嘅 ge3, 嘢 je5 and 乜 mat1, each with its meaning and an example you can play.
Built for a daily habit.
Favourites
Save any entry and come back to it any time.
Search history
Pick up exactly where you left off.
Word of the day
A new word every day, drawn from the categories you choose.
Daily streak
Keeps the habit going, one look-up at a time.
If you cannot hear anything
Tap the speaker on any entry to hear it read aloud with your device's Cantonese voice. Most phones do not have one installed by default.
On Android: install or enable Google Text-to-Speech, then add its Cantonese (Hong Kong) voice data.
On iPhone or iPad: go to Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Voices › Chinese and download a Cantonese voice, then reopen the app.
Once it speaks, open Settings to choose a male or female voice and set the speed. In the web version, pronunciation depends on whether your browser offers a Cantonese voice.
Common questions
Does the Great Cantonese Dictionary work offline?
Yes. The full dictionary is built into the app, so there is nothing to download and no connection needed: on the MTR, on a plane, or anywhere your data does not reach.
How many entries does it have?
71,655 words, phrases and expressions, each with Jyutping romanisation and tap-to-hear pronunciation.
Can I search by Jyutping or by English?
Yes, and by Chinese characters or by Mandarin as well. Type nei5 hou2 when you know the sound but not the character, or an English meaning to find the Cantonese word. Search also matches listed synonyms.
Why is there no sound?
Your device has no Cantonese voice installed. On Android, add the Cantonese (Hong Kong) voice to Google Text-to-Speech. On iPhone or iPad, download a Cantonese voice under Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Voices › Chinese.
Is it Hong Kong or Guangzhou Cantonese?
Both are covered. The slang collections are Hong Kong Cantonese, and the seven-part Guangzhou Dialect Collection covers Guangzhou idioms, street life, rhymes, sayings and the characters used only in Cantonese.
Which languages is the app in?
The interface is in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Is there a web version?
Yes: open the dictionary in your browser. The iPhone, iPad and Android apps work offline and use your device's Cantonese voice.
Look it up. In Cantonese.
Open the dictionary in your browser, or install it on iPhone, iPad or Android to search offline.
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