52.1 Clothing Sizes

To refer to clothing sizes like ‘large size’ and ‘medium size’, we first say the adjective (e.g., 大 daai6 ‘large’, 中 zung1 ‘medium’), and then the word 碼 maa5 (‘size’).

To refer to clothing sizes like ‘extra large size’ and ‘extra small size’, we add the word 加 gaa1 (‘extra’, literally ‘to add’) before the adjective.

We can use more than one 加 gaa1 to refer to larger sizes.

Below is a list of clothing sizes. Hong Kong Cantonese speakers also often indicate clothing sizes in English.

To ask for someone’s size, we can use these questions:

For pants sizes, we sometimes use the waist circumference. We first say the number and then the measurement unit classifier 吋 cyun3 (‘inch’).

We sometimes add the word 腰 jiu1 (‘waist’) after the measurement to indicate that we are talking about a waist circumference.

We can use the following sentence structures to indicate our waist circumference. Notice we put the person and the measurement next to each other, without adding any verbs in between. These sentence structures have a predicate without a verb (see Grammar and Vocabulary 12.4).

To ask for someone’s waist circumference, we can combine 幾多 gei2 do1 / 幾 gei2 (‘how many, how much’) with 吋 cyun3 to form the question expression 幾多吋 gei2 do1 cyun3 / 幾吋 gei2 cyun3 (‘how many inches’).

For shoe sizes, we first say the number and then the classifier 號 hou6 (‘number’).

To indicate a half size, we put the word 半 bun3 (‘half’) after 號 hou6.

We sometimes add the word 鞋 haai4 (‘shoe’) after the size to indicate that we are talking about a shoe size.

To ask for someone’s shoes size, we can combine 幾多 gei2 do1 / 幾 gei2 (‘how many, how much’) with 號 hou6 to form the question expression 幾多號 gei2 do1 hou6 / 幾號 gei2 hou6 (‘what number’).