What "斗" refers to in "正斗" The Cantonese term &quot;正斗&quot; means &quot;great&quot; or &quot;of high quality&quot;

正斗
an exclamation that sth is &quot;great!&quot;

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正斗
好，美，正牌，正規，地道，純正，漂亮，質量好

I can understand why 正(authentic) is used in  &quot;正斗&quot; which mean &quot;high quality&quot; (people believe in authentic goods is of high quality) But I don't get the role of &quot;斗&quot; in this phrase. I tried to search the web but most of the results are related to a restaurant called &quot;正斗&quot;.
I hate it when a common term is used as a movies title, restaurant name etc. Make it difficult to search the original meaning on the web
Examples of &quot;正斗&quot; in a sentence
呢啲係正斗貨嚟架 (This is high quality goods)
有冇正斗野介紹 (Any suggestion of great stuffs?)
佢女朋友好正斗架 (Her girlfriend is very pretty)
One thing I noticed is 正斗 and 正 basically are interchangeable when it is referring &quot;great&quot; or &quot;high quality&quot;
正斗貨 = 正貨 (high quality goods)
正斗野 = 正野 (great stuff)
My question is, what &quot;斗&quot; refers to in &quot;正斗&quot;?
The following may be folk etymology. More research is needed - specifically, textual evidence of when「正斗」started being in use among the general public.



「正斗」originated as a term in initiation rituals of Chinese secret societies or criminal underworld groups. The details of the ritual vary from source to source, but the ritual is said to involve a wooden ladle (斗).

The term「正」in「正斗」refers to the meaning orthodoxy, that is, orthodoxy of the rites or the members/leader involved in the rites of the secret society.「正斗」then refers to those who have successfully entered the society through the orthodox initiation ritual, also indicating the meaning proper, dignified. This stands in contrast to non-members or pretenders who did not know the rites (非正斗 or 假斗).

Later on, the term「正斗」permeated general society, and「正斗」gained the meaning of high quality, awesome, etc.



References:


廣東話中 -- 好正-- 一詞 - hk.answers.yahoo.com
香港黑社會用語舉隅 - mypaper.pchome.com.tw