To kiss

[rathpy]

I understand that 錫 (sek3) is the spoken word for "kiss", and 吻 (man5) is the litterary/written form, but has anybody heard a spoken version that sounds like -- ok ? (rhymes with "block")

[Ramesh K.]

Maybe a native cantonese speaker could correct me, but I'm pretty sure you're talking about the slang 索油 "sok3 yau2" literally meaning "suck up oil," which has the meaning of to make out or to mess around.

(uh did I get the tone on yau right, not sure whether there has 變音. also I just looked up 變音 in the dictionary and found a Sanskrit word "Sandhi" which means to come together, I remember seeing it before in a Chinese linguistics context and not really being sure what it was doing there. As an Indian I am proud that our old language could contribute to English, but I just find it a little odd.)

amusingly enough this expression got absorbed into mandarin too, suo3 you2.

[rathpy]

No, I'm pretty sure that's not it--Because my wife only uses the one sylable "ok", and we "ok" our daughter goodnight.

Regards,
rathpy

[Terence]

yes , ngok1 or ok1 means to kiss, but it is not popular now.

[Mirror]

I guess you mean the baby word "ug". That's a noise you make when you kiss hard on skin, like a baby kissing mother on the cheek.

[rathpy]

Terrence wrote:
> ngok1 or ok1 means to kiss, but it is not popular now.

Thanks, how about this...

I have found in two Cantonese dictionaries a colloquial word 'ngok6' meaning "to perk up the head" -- character 咢(1977) or [岳+貝](1999) -- short for fixed expression 'ngok6 gou1 tau4' 咢高頭.

Is it possible that my wife is saying 'ok' as a contraction of this 'ngok6', and thinks that it means "kiss" (when she is really directing the child to raise her head to be kissed)? Or am I off base here?

Regards,
rathpy

[Terence]

The original character for ngok1 (to kiss) has not yet been recognized but i personally think that it's 啞。Ｉam still on my way to prove this and i don't think it's about 顎

[rathpy]

Thanks, Terence. The 顎 character was just an idea. I haven't yet found a single other reference to '(ng)ok' ("to kiss"). But I'm glad at least you know what I'm talking about.

Regards,
rathpy

[Terence]

Dear Rathpy,

Sorry that I can't give you a confirmed character for ngok1, but as I mentioned 啞 has an ancient pronounciation as ngok, and it's related to baby talk and laugh. This may explain why it is always with baby when using ngok to mean kiss. (just guess)

Moreover, the correct character for sek3 is 惜，not 鍚。

Terence

[Kk Cheung]

As a native cantonese speaker , I can surely answer your question rathpy.
People do speak '錫' for the spoken word 'kiss' in cantonese and use '吻' in written form. I never heard a couple saying "i love u , can I '吻' you"in spoken form. People always use "can I '錫' you" in the statement. Sorry for my bad english~
作為一位以廣東話為母語的講者 , rathy,我可以非常肯定回答你的問題。 在廣東話中,人們通常說話時會講"錫"來代表英文字'kiss', 而書寫時就會以"吻"此字來代表。我從來都沒有聽過一對情侶在談情時會說 "我愛你, 我可否吻你嗎"。人們永遠都只會說 "我可以錫你嗎"。

[pakkala]

The 顎 character was just an idea. I haven't yet found a single other reference to '(ng)ok' ("to kiss"). But I'm glad at least you know what I'm talking about.