canto

plural cantos

1. One of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book.
2. entertainmentThe treble or leading melody.
3. entertainmentThe designated division of a song.

1. informaluncountableThe Cantonese language.

   But Mandarin is the bigger language anyway, not many other parts of China speak Canto.

   2022, Zahid Ramzan Mohamed Mughal, quoting Emily, Walking the cosmopolitan talk: mapping expatriate identities in postcolonial Hong Kong, Keele University, archived from the original on 12 May 2022, page 62

   2 more examples

   I think most people born here can’t speak it, but they understand it. It’s so strange that my Chinese friends can speak Canto, and my Japanese friends can speak their language, but it doesn’t work that way for us here

   2016, Emilie Santos Tumale, quoting “James”, Challenging the Stigmas: A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Filipino American Community College Students, University of California Los Angeles, page 50

   In reaction to when the Chinese girls would speak Canto or Mando around us, we created a language – we came up with a language.

   2019, Christina Ho, quoting Blaise, “Angry Anglos and aspirational Asians: everyday multiculturalism in the selective school system in Sydney”, in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, volume 40, number 4, →DOI, page 521