Yuehai () is the main branch of

Yue Chinese Yue () is a branch of the Sinitic languages primarily spoken in Northern and southern China, Southern China, particularly in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (collectively known as Liangguang). The term Cantonese is often used to refer ...

, spoken in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...

of the province of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, as well as

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. It is commonly called Cantonese, though that name is more precisely applied to the Guangzhou topolect of Yuehai.

Topolects

Yuehai is divided into four principal dialects, each of which contains various subdialects.

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

is the prestige form. *Cantonese dialects **

Guangzhou dialect Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While the t ...

** Hong Kong dialect ** Macau dialect **

Xiguan dialect The Xiguan dialect, or Sai Kwan dialect (), is the prestige dialect of Cantonese originated from Xiguan (Sai Kwan), Guangzhou. Differences with downtown accent Differences in the pronunciation of some characters Confusion of consonant ...

** Wuzhou dialect **

Tanka dialect The Boat Dwellers, also known as Shuishangren (; "people living on the water") or Boat People, or the derogatory Tankas, are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who traditionally lived on junk (ship), junks in coastal parts of Guangdong ...

*Sanyi / Nanpanshun dialects **

Nanhai dialect Nanhai () may refer to: *''Nanhai'', the Chinese name for the South China Sea, one of the Four Seas *Nanhai Commandery, the former Chinese administration over Liangguang *''Nanhai'', the Chinese name for the South China Sea Islands *The ''Nanhai On ...

Jiujiang dialect The Jiujiang dialect () is a variety of Cantonese spoken in Jiujiang Town, in Nanhai District, Foshan, Guangdong. A few words differ from Standard Cantonese, but generally other Cantonese speakers can understand Jiujiang dialect without difficu ...

Xiqiao dialect Xiqiao may refer to: * Xiqiao, Foshan (西樵镇), town in Nanhai District, Foshan, Guangdong, China * Xiqiao, Huai'an (席桥镇), town in Chuzhou District, Huai'an, Jiangsu, China * Mount Xiqiao, a dormant volcano in Nanhai District, Fosh ...

Shunde dialect Shunde (Shun Tak in Cantonese) is a district of the city of Foshan, Guangdong province, located in the Pearl River Delta. It had a population of 2,464,784 as of the 2010 census. Once a traditional agricultural county, it has become one of the mo ...

*Xiangshan dialect **

Shiqi dialect The Shiqi dialect or Shekki dialect is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It is spoken by roughly 160,000 people in Zhongshan, Guangdong's Shiqi urban district. It differs slightly from Standard Cantonese, mainly in its pronunciation and lexicon. Shi ...

Sanjiao dialect Sanjiao may refer to: *San Jiao, term in traditional Chinese medicine *Sanjiao, Meizhou, town Meizhou, Guangdong, China *Sanjiao, Zhongshan, town in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China *Three teachings In Chinese philosophy, the ''three teachings'' ( ...

*Guanbao dialect **

Dongguan dialect Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

** Bao'an dialect (Waitau)

References

Cantonese language {{St-lang-stub