Wordle: As phrase puzzle requires about the web, Hong Kong professor produces Cantonese version

When cryptically coloured squares began flooding Lau Chaak-ming’s social media feeds previously this thirty day period, the 37-year-aged linguistics professor did not get considerably detect. But curiosity shortly got the greater of him, and it wasn’t extended prior to Lau was waiting right up until midnight – when the everyday puzzle refreshes – to play Wordle, the term video game that has taken the net by storm.

Final Friday, although taking in breakfast at a nearby cafe with a co-employee, Lau realised that many of the goods on the menu were Wordle-size. Things like saido (French toast), hofun (rice noodles) and gaafe (coffee) ended up all 5 letters lengthy when prepared in Jyutping, a romanisation technique made use of to spell out Cantonese words.

A person of his friends had presently manufactured a variation of Wordle working with Cangjie, a system for typing people. Encouraged, Lau, who operates at the Schooling College of Hong Kong, also set out to make a puzzle variant in his native language. He termed it Zidou, which usually means “know.”