N仔

Chinese

			minutely; young; duty minutely; young; duty; responsibility
simp. and trad. (N仔)		N	仔

Etymology

From English N, an initialism of non-civil service contracts + 仔 (zai2, “diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): en¹ zai²

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: en¹ zai²
    • Cantonese Pinyin: en¹ dzai²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɛːn⁵⁵ t͡sɐi̯³⁵/

Noun

N仔

1. (Hong Kong, slang) a government employee (who is not a civil servant) employed on a regular contractual basis
   • 2015 August 15, Initium Media, 香港公務員囧途之N仔憤怒了 (The Troubled Journey of Hong Kong Civil Servants: Fury of the Contract Guys)‎^[1]:

     所謂「N仔」，就是合約制非公務員。這是香港政府自1999年開始推行的聘用政策。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, trad.]
     所谓「N仔」，就是合约制非公务员。这是香港政府自1999年开始推行的聘用政策。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, simp.]

     so² wai⁶ “en¹ zai²”, zau⁶ si⁶ hap⁶ joek³ zai³ fei¹ gung¹ mou⁶ jyun⁴. ze² si⁶ hoeng¹ gong² zing³ fu² zi⁶ 1999 nin⁴ hoi¹ ci² teoi¹ hang⁴ dik¹ ping³ jung⁶ zing³ caak³. [Jyutping]

     "N guys" stands for "non-civil service contract". It is an employment policy of the Hong Kong Government since 1999.