Cantonese Dictionary Vol. 100: 10 Essential Cantonese Words for Time, Patience & Being Late

October 1, 2026

Bustling Hong Kong street at night with high-rise buildings and glowing neon signs

Welcome to Volume 100 — a milestone in the Cantonese Dictionary series. To mark it, this edition tackles the words that run through every Hong Kong day: the vocabulary of time, patience, hurry, and being late. If you have ever stood on the MTR platform muttering "等陣啦," watched your uncle wave off a demand with "慢慢嚟," or heard a boss bark "快啲!" across a chaa chaan teng, you already know these words shape how Cantonese people live. They are small, grammatical, and absolutely essential.

We built this list for diaspora learners who want to sound local, HK friends who want to see their daily speech on paper, and anyone who has ever been accused of being 遲到大王. Fire up a cup of milk tea and let's go.

Evening view of a vibrant Asian market street with illuminated signs, capturing urban rush-hour pace — Hong Kong runs on borrowed minutes — and borrowed excuses. — Photo via Pexels

The 10 Words

1. 慢慢嚟

maan6 maan6 lei4 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Take it slow" / "No rush."

Explanation: The most reassuring sentence in Cantonese. Said by a dim sum auntie waiting for you to pick, by a sifu teaching a form, or by a parent calming a stressed child. It carries real warmth — not laziness.

In real life: 「唔使急,慢慢嚟。」 — "No need to rush, take it slow."

If 慢慢嚟 is your personal philosophy, you basically are the 唔使急慢慢來 No Rush, Take It Slow tee. It's the full phrase embroidered onto a tee, for the people in your group chat who really need the reminder.

2. 快啲啦

faai3 di1 laa1 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Hurry up!" / "Faster already!"

Explanation: 快啲 is the base ("a bit faster"). Adding 啦 turns it into a push — nagging mum at the door, impatient boss, taxi driver watching the light. The 啦 particle is the whole mood.

In real life: 「快啲啦,就快遲到!」 — "Hurry up, we're almost late!"

3. 遲到

ci4 dou3 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "To be late / tardy."

Explanation: Core word for arriving late — to work, to a date, to a yum cha table your family already ordered without you. Everyone in Hong Kong has used it to describe themselves and someone else in the same week.

In real life: 「唔好意思,我遲到咗十分鐘。」 — "Sorry, I'm ten minutes late."

4. 等陣

dang2 zan6 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Wait a sec" / "In a bit."

Explanation: Short, flexible, used dozens of times a day. "Wait a bit" and "later" are both baked in. Often extended to 等陣先 (dang2 zan6 sin1) — "hold on a sec first." The vagueness is a feature; "later" could be five minutes or five hours.

In real life: 「等陣我覆你。」 — "I'll reply to you in a bit." / 「等陣見!」 — "See you later!"

Now, Later, and the Grey Zone Between

Vibrant Hong Kong alley with glowing neon signs at night, showcasing urban Cantonese culture — Cantonese time words run from "now" to "a bit later" — rarely more precise. — Photo via Pexels

5. 一陣間

jat1 zan6 gaan1 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "In a moment" / "Shortly."

Explanation: Slightly more formal cousin of 等陣. The 間 at the end softens it to "within a short while." Shows up in service announcements, polite texts, and when you don't want to commit to a time.

In real life: 「一陣間就到。」 — "I'll be there shortly."

6. 而家

ji4 gaa1 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Now" / "Right now."

Explanation: The purest "now" in Cantonese. Different from Mandarin's 現在 — 而家 is colloquial, spoken, lived-in. Pair it with 就 (jau6) for emphasis: 而家就去 ("going right now").

In real life: 「我而家喺地鐵度。」 — "I'm on the MTR right now."

7. 遲啲

ci4 di1 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Later" / "A bit later."

Explanation: The polite dismissal of modern Cantonese life. "Dinner?" "遲啲啦." "Call me back?" "遲啲啦." Could mean twenty minutes or next week — context decides.

In real life: 「遲啲再傾啦。」 — "Let's chat later."

8. 急

gap1 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "Urgent" / "In a rush."

Explanation: Used both for actual emergencies ("this is urgent") and personal state ("I'm rushing"). Hong Kong practically runs on 急. The default negation — 唔急 (m4 gap1), "not urgent" — is a rare luxury.

In real life: 「急唔急?」「唔急,慢慢嚟。」 — "Urgent or not?" "Not urgent, take your time."

Patience, Duration, and Clocking Out

Not every time word is about rushing. The best Cantonese attitude is the one on our 準時收工 Clock Out On Time tee — being on time about the one thing that actually matters: leaving the office. Pair it with the next two words.

9. 耐

noi6 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "(For) a long time."

Explanation: The duration workhorse of Cantonese. 好耐 (hou2 noi6) is "a really long time." 幾耐 (gei2 noi6) is "how long?" It's the word you reach for whenever something, or someone, has taken longer than expected.

In real life: 「好耐冇見!」 — "Long time no see!" / 「等咗幾耐啊?」 — "How long have you been waiting?"

10. 準時

zeon2 si4 — Jyutping romanisation

Meaning: "On time" / "Punctual."

Explanation: The ideal every Hong Konger says they value and quietly struggles with. The most beloved variant: 準時收工 (zeon2 si4 sau1 gung1) — "clock out on time" — the dream of every office worker in Central.

In real life: 「佢好準時,從來唔遲到。」 — "He's really punctual, never late."

A Hundred Volumes, One Living Language

Volume 100 feels like a good moment to say the obvious: Cantonese is not a backup version of Mandarin. It is a living, specific language with its own grammar, its own humour, and — as this list hopefully shows — its own relationship to time. Hong Kong moves fast enough to need every one of these words. The diaspora, scattered across time zones from Vancouver to London, uses them to call home.

If you want more ways to carry the language with you off the page, see our Dictionary Vol. 99 on luck and fortune, or our earlier Cantonese Slang 101 primer. And when you want to put the attitude into your wardrobe, the Hea heavyweight tee says the chillest thing Cantonese has to offer.