Diu 🔊

Usage examples

• 屌！我唔見咗我把遮。
  Diu! Ngo m gin zo ngo ba ze.
  Fuck! I lost my umbrella.
• 屌，呢個人係點解噉㗎？
  Diu, ni go yan hai dim gaai gam ga?
  Fuck, why is this person like this?

Etymology

Written 屌 or 𨳒 in Chinese characters. The character 屌 (Jyutping: diu2, Mandarin: diǎo) originally denoted 'penis' and is attested in classical Chinese sources. In Cantonese it evolved into the primary expletive verb meaning 'to fuck', functioning both as a standalone exclamation and as the root of compound expletives such as 屌你 (diu nei, fuck you) and 屌你老母 (diu nei lou mou, fuck your mother). The alternate character 𨳒 (a vulgar-use variant) is sometimes preferred in written slang to distinguish the profane sense.

Cultural notes

屌 (diu) functions as Cantonese's core profane verb, equivalent to English 'fuck' in both its literal and expletive uses. As a standalone exclamation it expresses shock, frustration, or anger. It is the building block for many of Cantonese's strongest insults. Despite its extreme vulgarity, it appears extensively in Hong Kong street speech and informal conversation, and is partially normalized in some online and youth contexts. In broadcast Cantonese media it is consistently censored.

Same meaning, other languages

Accuracy

79% of 14 voters say this translation is accurate.