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 ** Hong Kong dialect ** Macau dialect ** Xiguan dialect ** Wuzhou dialect ** Tanka dialect *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 ** Xiqiao dialect ** Shunde dialect *Xiangshan dialect ** Shiqi dialect ** Sanjiao dialect *Guanbao dialect ** Dongguan dialect ** Bao'an dialect (Waitau)

References

Cantonese language {{St-lang-stub