牛肉乾

Chinese

		beef	dry; clean; male dry; clean; male; strong; one of the Eight Trigrams; surname
trad. (牛肉乾)		牛肉	乾
simp. (牛肉干)		牛肉	干

Etymology

“parking ticket”

In the past, parking tickets were written on carbon paper (過底紙 / 过底纸 (gwo³ dai² zi²)), and a piece of red carbon paper would resemble a piece of dried beef. Also, the value of a parking ticket at that time was almost worth a pound of dried beef.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): niúròugān

  (Zhuyin): ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄖㄡˋ ㄍㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ngau⁴ juk⁶ gon¹
• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶gnieu-gnioq-koe

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: niúròugān
    • Zhuyin: ㄋㄧㄡˊ ㄖㄡˋ ㄍㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: nióuròugan
    • Wade–Giles: niu²-jou⁴-kan¹
    • Yale: nyóu-ròu-gān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: niourowgan
    • Palladius: нюжоугань (njužouganʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ni̯oʊ̯³⁵ ʐoʊ̯⁵¹ kän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: ngau⁴ juk⁶ gon¹
    • Yale: ngàuh yuhk gōn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ngau⁴ juk⁹ gon¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ngeo⁴ yug⁶ gon¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋɐu̯²¹ jʊk̚² kɔːn⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶gnieu-gnioq-koe
    • MiniDict: nyeu^去 nyoh koe
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³nyieu-nyioq-koe
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /n̠ʲiɤ²² n̠ʲioʔ⁵⁵ kø²¹/

Noun

牛肉乾

1. dried beef; beef jerky; bakkwa (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)

   • 以前僑生回港，大都喜歡買廣式口味的永來香牛肉乾。 [MSC, trad.]
     以前侨生回港，大都喜欢买广式口味的永来香牛肉干。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1986, 彭家發, 《特寫寫作》, Taipei: 臺灣商務印書館, →ISBN, page 274

     Yǐqián qiáoshēng huígǎng, dàdōu xǐhuān mǎi Guǎngshì kǒuwèi de Yǒngláixiāng niúròugān. [Pinyin]

     Before, when overseas students return to Hong Kong, most of them like to buy Cantonese-style Yung Lai Shiang beef jerky.

2. (Cantonese, figurative) parking ticket (legal summons) (Classifier: 張／张 c; 疊／叠 c)

   • 所以佢冇同大家Farewell，自己喺舞池跳佢啲核突老派茶舞自High，相信佢Take咗嘢進入咗個忘我狀態，街邊部SLK應該要泊過夜，咁又坐底三張牛肉乾。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     所以佢冇同大家Farewell，自己喺舞池跳佢啲核突老派茶舞自High，相信佢Take咗嘢进入咗个忘我状态，街边部SLK应该要泊过夜，咁又坐底三张牛肉干。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2016, 于日辰, 倫敦金2之《潛龍勿用》, Hong Kong: 點子出版, page 397

     so² ji⁵ keoi⁵ mou⁵ tung⁴ daai⁶ gaa¹ fe¹ weu¹, zi⁶ gei² hai² mou⁵ ci⁴ tiu³ keoi⁵ di¹ wat⁶ dat⁶ lou⁵ paai³ caa⁴ mou⁵ zi⁶ haai¹, soeng¹ seon³ keoi⁵ tik¹ zo² je⁵ zeon³ jap⁶ zo² go³ mong⁴ ngo⁵ zong⁶ taai³, gaai¹ bin¹ bou⁶ SLK jing¹ goi¹ jiu³ paak³ gwo³ je^6-2, gam² jau⁶ zo⁶ dai² saam¹ zoeng¹ ngau⁴ juk⁶ gon¹. [Jyutping]

     That's why he didn't say farewell to everyone and was excited on his own, dancing his cringy old-timey tea dance by himself on the dance floor. It seems like he took some drugs and was completely absorbed. His SLK at the side of the street probably needs to be parked overnight, which means at least three parking tickets.

Synonyms

• (parking ticket): 告票 (gou³ piu³), (Malaysian Cantonese) 沙晚