Cantonese evolved from Chinese in the Tang Dynasty, retaining many sounds and vocabulary of Chinese in the Tang Dynasty. But it does not rule out the absorption of some elements of Baiyue.

The earliest origin of Cantonese can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties. The first batch of Central Plains immigrants mixed with Baiyue, forming the earliest Chinese dialect in Lingnan, which inevitably absorbed some minority language elements. However, it was during the Sui and Tang Dynasties that Han people immigrated to Lingnan on a large scale. New immigrant groups have brought strong Central Plains languages, and indigenous dialects have been merged or replaced.

After the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, great changes have taken place in Chinese in the Central Plains, while the Chinese dialects in Lingnan have developed into today's Cantonese dialects in a relatively isolated situation.

Today's Zhuang, Li, Dong, Buyi, Shui, Maonan and Dai languages all evolved from Baiyue, but they also absorbed a lot of Chinese words.