三 (saam1 saam3 | san1) : three; several

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三

saam1 saam3

san1

[1] three; third; thrice
[2] several; many; few

1. Jyutping saam3 is used only in literary (e.g. 三思) or other rare compounds.
2. 叁 is the variant and formal form used on checks, in accounting and banking.

Default PoS:

Additional PoS:

Stroke count: 3

Level: 1

Radical: 一 (#1)

This character is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

三

This word has been viewed 25497 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by sheik on 18th Mar 2007 21:22 and last edited on 10th Jun 2013 15:37

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大三 daai6 saam1 da4 san1 = third-year university student

唔理三七廿一 m4 lei5 saam1 cat1 je6 jat1 = reject an objection to a course of action, “I don’t care”; regardless, irrespective 粵

三邑 saam1 jap1 san1 yi4 = Sanyi: three regions Nanhai 南海, Panyu 番禺 and Shunde 順德

足三両 zuk1 saam1 loeng2 = Mcdonald's Quarter Pounder burger 粵

三點半 saam1 dim2 bun3 san1 dian3 ban4 = 3:30; half past three

星期三 sing1 kei4 saam1 xing1 qi1 san1 (PRC), xing1 qi2 san1 (Taiwan) = Wednesday

三月 saam1 jyut6 san1 yue4 = March

三個月 saam1 go3 jyut6 = trimester, three months

第三 dai6 saam1 di4 san1 = third

再三 zoi3 saam1 zai4 san1 = again and again
See all 379 compounds (CantoDict reports 420 compounds in total, but some may be Common Formations)

Showing all 23 examples containing 三

而家幾點鐘? 而家係三點三個字。粵
What time is it now? It's a quarter past three.

聖誕之前剩番廿三日買嘢咋粵
There are only 23 shopping days left until Christmas.

聖誕節之前只剩下二十三天買禮物了！國
There are only 23 shopping days left until Christmas.

一粒荔枝三把火。粵
A lychee carries 'three fire'.
[This references the Chinese concept of 'internal body heat' - '熱氣'. Lychees are said to be a very '熱氣' kind of fruit and this may be said with the term 'three fire'.]

一日煮足三餐都幾嘥時間。粵
It is very time-consuming if the three meals of a day are all made by me.

張枱上面得翻三隻杯。粵
Only three cups are left on the table.
[In this sentence, the aspect marker 翻 merely connotes that there have been more than three cups on the table.]

你係咪睇緊三級片？粵
Are you watching porn?
[Lit. You are-not watching erotic movie?]

我諗呢個方案以三個月為期可以做完。粵
I believe this project can be completed within three months.

三步擸埋兩步走粵
He walks in long strides.

十三不祥
13 is an unlucky number

雖然佢三十六度板斧都出齊，但都唔夠你犀利粵
Although he put in all that he knew, he could not match up with you.

佢噉嘅三板斧仲敢喺一哥面前自吹自擂? 粵
He is not capable but yet has the audacity to blow his trumpet before the master?

佢真利害，三兩下手勢就做低對手粵
His opponent was defeated in no time. He is really formidable.

我斷估咋，原來佢真係廿三歲粵
I was only making wild guesses. Didn't know he actually was 23 years old.

間餐廳嘅例湯賣來賣去都係嗰三幅被，重來冇新鮮啲嘅畀你試。粵
This restaurant always serves the same soups; there's never a new thing for you to try.

個肥仔出力噉𨅝住部三輪車粵
The fat guy is pedalling furiously on his tricycle.

三萬蚊買起佢，易如反掌粵
Thirty thousand dollars to get someone to kill him, its easy.

消防員救出被困電梯內嘅三人。粵
Fire fighters rescued three people trapped inside a lift.

我係無事不登三寶殿
I wouldn't come to you if I hadn't something to ask of you.

我在法國渡過了三個寒暑國
I spent three winters and summers in France.
["three winters and summers" symbolizes three years.]

我隻腳有三粒蚊𧕴，好有可能係因為我前日去公園。粵
There are three bites on my leg... it's probably because I was in the park the day before yesterday.
[Lit. I [counter] leg have three mosquito-bites, very probable is because I day-before-yesterday go park]

聽講話近排有隻獵豹喺呢頭殺咗三個人粵
I heard there's a cheetah who killed three people recently.
[Lit. hear-say-speech recently have [counter] cheetah at this area kill-[particle indicating completeness] three people See this thread for discussion on grammar: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?14,111098,111192#msg-111192]

等到你返嚟嗰陣﹐佢已經走咗三日喇。粵
By the time you return, he will have already been gone for three days.
[咗 (have been) is a perfective marker in a future tense sentence here.]

Legend
國 : This term is used in Mandarin/Standard written Chinese, not Cantonese.
粵 : This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.
No icon: This term is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

Forum Code to link to this word:
[big][url=http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/9/]三[/url][/big]
HTML Code to link to this word:
<a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/9/" class="chinesemed" target="_blank">三</a>
Decimal representation of this word: 三
Unicode code for this character: U+4e09 (off-site link)

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