How to Write 瞓 (fèn) — Meaning “To sleep (Cantonese)”

Imagine that you close your eyes (目) and follow the instructions (訓) to fall asleep. The picture of an eye receiving commands helps you recall that 瞓 means "to sleep" in Cantonese.

Pay attention to the right side 訓: it has a 言 component (7 strokes) and then 川 (3 strokes). The left eye radical 目 should be narrower and slightly higher than the right part. A common mistake is making the left side too wide or mixing up the strokes in 言.

睘 (rare, sometimes meaning "to look") has a different right component (袁 or similar), while 睚 (yá) means "corner of the eye" or "to glare" and uses 厓 on the right. Visually, 瞓 has many more strokes on the right side, and its meaning is completely different — only 瞓 relates to sleeping.

瞓 is a Cantonese-specific character used in spoken Cantonese, especially in Hong Kong and Guangdong. It appears in phrases like 瞓觉 (to sleep) and 瞓醒 (to wake up). Mandarin speakers use 睡 instead, so 瞓 is a regional character that learners should recognize for conversations with Cantonese speakers.

Common words containing 瞓 include: 瞓觉 (fèn jué) — To sleep (Cantonese); 瞓醒 (fèn xǐng) — To wake up (Cantonese); 瞓得好 (fèn dé hǎo) — Slept well (Cantonese).