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In Cantonese, you can use 遲 to indicate someone is late (e.g., not punctual) or the time is late (e.g., past midnight so all restaurants are closed).
However, it seems like Mandarin speakers use 晚 in place of 遲 most of the time.
What are the Mandarin guidelines for using 遲 vs. 晚? Should you just always use 晚?
晚 and 遲 are interchangeable when it is used as an adverb for "late"
For example, 晚到= 遲到; 來晚了= 來遲了
But 遲 have the additional meaning of "delay"
Example:
You can say 遲遲才回覆 (reply after long delay/ reply very late) but you can't say 晚晚才回覆
You can say 遲則有變 (situations change when you delay your action/ situations change when you are late to act) but you can't say 晚則有變
迟(the standard simplified Chinese word, while the Chinese Traditional is 遲) and 晚 both have the meaning of late.
迟 usually means late for the appointed time or a certain time. example: Party七点开始，你来迟了!—— The party start at 7:00 pm, you came late!
The word '迟到' is frequently used to describe late for certain time
晚 is more complex
It has the meaning of late for a certain time. example: Party七点开始，你来晚了!—— The party start at 7:00 pm, you came late!
It also have the meaning of just being late but not for a certain time. example: 他很晚到家—— He arrived home very late. example: 他昨晚很晚离开—— He left late last night.
Or it means evening. example: 晚上——evening, example:今晚——tonight, example:昨晚——last night.
Fun fact: to describe public transportation's behind schedule, the word is 晚点, where '点' means the schedule time for public transportation to arrive.
I think it's meaningless to just compare them without context. Maybe know more phrases can be more helpful.
eg:
I'm late.
correct: 我来晚了，我迟到了，我迟到了 wrong: 我晚了
In many case, they are very similar. But in other case, they different, and can't replace with each other.
eg:
evening/night
correct:晚上/夜晚 (can't use 迟)
delay
correct:延迟 (can't use 晚)
To indicate late, 晚 is more modern while 遲(迟) is more ancient. Cantonese has retained many ancient Chinese language components. Both of them is understandable in nowadays communication.
