Cantonese character 乸

It marks female animals; some compounds refer to mothers or people. It usually follows the animal name: 雞乸 is a hen, 豬乸 a sow, and 老虎乸 a tigress. 兩仔乸 means a mother and children; 乸型 calls a person effeminate and is often derogatory.

Eitel’s Cantonese dictionary records this use in 1877; that is a documented point, not the character’s origin. A 2017 study of Cantonese writing in the final years of the Qing dynasty and early Republic of China classifies 乸 among dialect characters made to write spoken words. Here, it gives a spoken female or maternal word a written form.

What does 乸 mean when someone sends it?

Alone, 乸 is too ambiguous to decode safely. Ask for the full Cantonese phrase. It can be ordinary animal or family vocabulary; 乸型 aimed at a person can be a gendered insult.

Readers who know Chinese mainly through Standard Written Chinese, the standard written form used in formal contexts, may not recognize 乸 as productive Cantonese writing. Avoid using it as a joke with a boss or stranger: without the full expression, the intended reading is unclear.