<p>This is common across all accents that merge the initial Pinyin r- (IPA: /ʐ/) into pinyin y- (IPA /j/). </p>

<ul>
<li>Cantonese-influenced Mandarin very noticeably does this.</li>
<li>Most accents of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_Mandarin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Northeast</a> (noticeably <a href="https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/20838-northeastern-dialect-%E4%B8%9C%E5%8C%97%E8%AF%9D/page/2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Shenyang</a>) <a href="https://shenyanglostnfound.com/blog/northeast-chinese-dialect-101/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">also</a> do this (although erhua is still present)</li>
<li>Apparently, <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9D%92%E5%B3%B6%E8%A9%B1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Qingdao</a> Mandarin (and I assume other coastal Shandong dialects) have a full-on split-merger, where only some r- lexemes become y- (肉 → 又 is one of these).</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-07T10:31:59.957Z
2019-05-07T10:31:59.957Z
Michaelyus
<p>In Cantonese, it is pronounced close to “you”. And I think in the northeastern provinces, it is pronounced as “you” as well. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-09T06:47:59.497Z
Cantonese pronunciation is not close to "you". Jyutping records it as [juk6]. Yale transliteration records it as [yuk6].
Daniel Cheung
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2019-05-04T11:05:13.950Z
2019-05-04T11:05:13.950Z
Xuehong Zhang
<p>I can provide anecdotal evidence of this accent in northeast cities near 沈阳 (Shenyang) (but not coastal cities like 大连——they have a different accent).</p>

<p>My girlfriend was born and raised in a city near 沈阳 called 鞍山, as were her father and mother. Her father merges (pinyin) r  and y into y. When I first met him he introduced some info about his city, including the "yinkou" (人口). People there say "yoù" (肉), "yènao" (热闹), and pretty much everything else follows this pattern, too.</p>

<p>On another note, pinyin chi/zhi are allophones of ci/zi there, as well, it seems.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-09T10:20:20.183Z
That's interesting. I've seen 人 written as 银 before in other topolects, I guess it's more common than I thought.
Mou某
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2019-05-09T12:37:44.333Z
Out of curiosity, I've been asking random Chinese people (I live in Beijing), and no one I've asked so far is familiar with the sound ”you“ as 肉. That is, they don't seem to identify it strongly with any particular region, but my sample selection is certainly not representative or adequate in any way:) one person said, he thought of Anhui or some other place farther south, which is interesting.
kGdmioT
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-09T09:27:54.993Z
2019-05-09T09:27:54.993Z
kGdmioT
<p>In Cantonese, 肉 is pronounced as 'yuk' instead of 'you'.<br>
In Putonghua, 肉 is pronounced as 'rou'.<br>
In Northeastern China, people sometimes pronounce it as 'you', for example 膠東, 瀋陽 and 山東.
However it is an old pronunciation, and people seldom pronounce it as 'you' nowadays, but 'rou' instead.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-05T22:35:25.150Z
As a vegetarian, I agree: 肉？Yuk!
Pedroski
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2019-05-05T23:55:09.930Z
Me: *facepalms *freaks out
昨晚忘記呼吸
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2019-05-04T15:35:20.357Z
2019-05-10T15:31:28.233Z
2019-05-10T15:31:28.233Z
昨晚忘記呼吸
<p>It indicates an uneducated person. I grew up from the northeast. Usually the aged and uneducated used to pronounce it as you4. Younger generations and the educated won't pronounce it like that. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-10T04:50:43.063Z
Well that’s a bigoted remark to make. Speaking a dialect is hardly an indicator of being educated or not.
Mou某
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2019-05-10T05:56:01.110Z
@user3306356 That's the impression of the people from northeast. Now, I feel awkward to say you4, even though I used to say it when I was a little boy.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-10T07:00:23.280Z
Well, I don't want to be pedantic about it, but there's a common misconception that dialects are "wrong" or "ungrammatical" but often they are actually just their own languages. It's good to know about these biases though.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-10T07:10:43.697Z
@user3306356  This pronunciation is dying off. Nowadays, you would only hear it's said by the aged (usually hadn't acquired much knowledge from school.) It's not like other dialect usages where they are still prevalent.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-10T04:28:12.177Z
2019-05-10T04:28:12.177Z
dan
<p>People from northen east provinces（Dongbei，which includs：黑龙江Heilongjiang, 吉林Jilin，辽宁Liaoning）with accents pronounce 肉 as you4.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-05T15:33:21.253Z
2019-05-05T15:33:21.253Z
imkzh
<p>I have heard 肉 pronounced <code>you</code> (not sure of the tone, 4th probably, as in: yòu) on multiple occasions. It seems to be a northern Chinese thing - as opposed to a southern thing - but I'm not sure on specifics.</p>

<p>In which locales is 肉 pronounced <code>you</code>?</p>

<hr>

<p>Edit: I'm getting a lot of responses with Cantonese examples, which is interesting, but I'm fairly certain that this is a <em>northern</em> Chinese thing as I mentioned in my question.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-09T21:35:35.787Z
In north eastern part of China, people say `you` instead of `rou`
WoLfPwNeR
<pronunciation>
Where is 肉 pronunced "you"?
# Where is 肉 pronunced "you"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-04)

I have heard 肉 pronounced `you` (not sure of the tone, 4th probably, as in: yòu) on multiple occasions. It seems to be a northern Chinese thing - as opposed to a southern thing - but I'm not sure on specifics.

In which locales is 肉 pronounced `you`?

---

Edit: I'm getting a lot of responses with Cantonese examples, which is interesting, but I'm fairly certain that this is a *northern* Chinese thing as I mentioned in my question.

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In north eastern part of China, people say `you` instead of `rou`  

---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2019-05-05. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

People from northen east provinces（Dongbei，which includs：黑龙江Heilongjiang, 吉林Jilin，辽宁Liaoning）with accents pronounce 肉 as you4.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-05-07. Score: 1

This is common across all accents that merge the initial Pinyin r- (IPA: /ʐ/) into pinyin y- (IPA /j/).

* Cantonese-influenced Mandarin very noticeably does this.
* Most accents of the [Northeast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_Mandarin) (noticeably [Shenyang](https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/20838-northeastern-dialect-%E4%B8%9C%E5%8C%97%E8%AF%9D/page/2/)) [also](https://shenyanglostnfound.com/blog/northeast-chinese-dialect-101/) do this (although erhua is still present)
* Apparently, [Qingdao](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9D%92%E5%B3%B6%E8%A9%B1) Mandarin (and I assume other coastal Shandong dialects) have a full-on split-merger, where only some r- lexemes become y- (肉 → 又 is one of these).


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-05-04. Score: 1

In Cantonese, it is pronounced close to “you”. And I think in the northeastern provinces, it is pronounced as “you” as well.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Cantonese pronunciation is not close to "you". Jyutping records it as [juk6]. Yale transliteration records it as [yuk6].  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2019-05-09. Score: 1

I can provide anecdotal evidence of this accent in northeast cities near 沈阳 (Shenyang) (but not coastal cities like 大连——they have a different accent).

My girlfriend was born and raised in a city near 沈阳 called 鞍山, as were her father and mother. Her father merges (pinyin) r and y into y. When I first met him he introduced some info about his city, including the "yinkou" (人口). People there say "yoù" (肉), "yènao" (热闹), and pretty much everything else follows this pattern, too.

On another note, pinyin chi/zhi are allophones of ci/zi there, as well, it seems.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: That's interesting. I've seen 人 written as 银 before in other topolects, I guess it's more common than I thought.  
> **username_5**: Out of curiosity, I've been asking random Chinese people (I live in Beijing), and no one I've asked so far is familiar with the sound ”you“ as 肉. That is, they don't seem to identify it strongly with any particular region, but my sample selection is certainly not representative or adequate in any way:) one person said, he thought of Anhui or some other place farther south, which is interesting.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2019-05-04. Score: 1

In Cantonese, 肉 is pronounced as 'yuk' instead of 'you'.  
In Putonghua, 肉 is pronounced as 'rou'.  
In Northeastern China, people sometimes pronounce it as 'you', for example 膠東, 瀋陽 and 山東.
However it is an old pronunciation, and people seldom pronounce it as 'you' nowadays, but 'rou' instead.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: As a vegetarian, I agree: 肉？Yuk!  
> **username_6**: Me: *facepalms *freaks out  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2019-05-10. Score: 0

It indicates an uneducated person. I grew up from the northeast. Usually the aged and uneducated used to pronounce it as you4. Younger generations and the educated won't pronounce it like that.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Well that’s a bigoted remark to make. Speaking a dialect is hardly an indicator of being educated or not.  
> **username_8**: @user3306356 That's the impression of the people from northeast. Now, I feel awkward to say you4, even though I used to say it when I was a little boy.  
> **username_0**: Well, I don't want to be peusername_8tic about it, but there's a common misconception that dialects are "wrong" or "ungrammatical" but often they are actually just their own languages. It's good to know about these biases though.  
> **username_8**: @user3306356  This pronunciation is dying off. Nowadays, you would only hear it's said by the aged (usually hadn't acquired much knowledge from school.) It's not like other dialect usages where they are still prevalent.  

---

