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I'm led to believe that 零 has the context of age as in this sentence. I've also heard Cantonese use the sound soy to refer to someone's age (is this the same word).

What are some other contexts that one might use the word: 零

他四十有零。

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  • "I've also heard Cantonese use the sound soy to refer to someone's age." <= As an native Cantonese speaker, I can't get what you mean. Can you give more hint?
    – Henry HO
    Aug 31, 2014 at 11:58
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    @HenryHO I guess he meant "歲" XD
    – Stan
    Aug 31, 2014 at 14:36
  • oic, "四十零歲"! (@Tommie 零 here does not means zero; instead, it means remnant or fractional amount. 四十零歲 = somehow over forty.)
    – Henry HO
    Sep 4, 2014 at 6:39

2 Answers 2

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  • 零零舍舍/零舍 - Unexpectedly different / different in a special way, e.g. 零舍好味: unexpectedly delicious / more delicious than others
  • 零碎 - quite a few, but small and discrete
  • 零件/零部件 - Parts, e.g. 電子零件: electronic parts (not sure how to describe, but「零」in this context kind of has the meaning of "small", "a lot", "in a variety", similar to 「零碎」)
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零头/零钱:change(money)
飘零:wandering

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  • In Hong Kong Cantonese we seldom say「零头/零钱」, more often called 「找錢」(change)/「散銀」(coins)
    – Alvin Wong
    Aug 31, 2014 at 15:35

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