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thursday, july 16^th, 2026

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a preface to the translation

a dictionary of singaporean hokkien (新加坡閩南話詞典 sin-ka-pho bân-lâm-oē sû-tián) is a hokkien-to-mandarin dictionary published by zhou changji (周長楫 chiu tiông-chhip) and chew cheng hai (周清海 chiu chheng-hái) in 2002. it includes over six thousand singaporean hokkien terms and their definitions, making it the most comprehensive dictionary of any singaporean sinitic language ever published. a scan of the original document can be viewed here, courtesy of the east asian linguistics bibliography.

for reasons unknown, i was recently seized by a frenzied mania that prompted me to transcribe and translate all 6,174 terms in the dictionary. the results are presented below for your viewing pleasure.

some notes on the translation:

• this is not a literal translation of the text. for the sake of brevity and my sanity, the lengthy definitions in the dictionary have been paraphrased into simple glosses, and examples and other explanatory notes have not been translated. this resource is intended to be a simple overview of the vocabulary of singaporean hokkien; for a more in-depth overview of the terms used, please consult the original text.


• as my mandarin is decidedly lacking, i employed machine translation to translate the definitions in certain areas. care has been taken to ensure that the resulting translations are coherent, but if you notice any errors, please do let me know!


• the simplified chinese characters and the IPA transcriptions that the original dictionary used have been converted to traditional chinese characters and pe̍h-oē-jī romanisation, for consistency with other resources on singaporean hokkien.


• singaporean hokkien is a diverse mix of many accents, resulting in many terms having multiple pronunciations depending on the speaker's background. while the original authors attempted to show some of this dialectical variation, it is by no means an exhaustive list. any pronunciations that have not been included are the fault of the original authors, not mine.


• the characters used in this dictionary should not be considered an authoritative source on singapore hokkien orthography. in my experience, dictionaries of sinitic languages such as these often feature rather idiosyncratic character choices, often chosen at the authors' personal discretion. in my opinion, the characters used here are considerably mandarin-centric, and should not be taken as being representative of the history of written hokkien in singapore. as always, more research on this topic is sorely needed.

table of contents

• 01: 天文地理 astronomy and geography
  • 01.1: 天文 astronomy
  • 01.2: 地理 geography
  • 01.3: 礦物 minerals
  • 01.4: 常用地名 common place names
  • 01.5: 人文景觀 cultural landmarks


• 02: 時間節令 time and seasons
  • 02.1: 年月日 dates
  • 02.2: 時段 time periods
  • 02.3: 歲時節日 traditional festivals


• 03: 動物植物 flora and fauna
  • 03.1: 牲畜 livestock
  • 03.2: 鳥類 birds
  • 03.3: 蟲類 insects
  • 03.4: 魚蝦類 fish and crustaceans
  • 03.5: 農作物 crops
  • 03.6: 樹木花草 trees and plants
  • 03.7: 蔬果 vegetables and fruits


• 04: 房屋器具 housing and implements
  • 04.1: 房屋 housing
  • 04.2: 家具 furniture
  • 04.3: 用具 tools
  • 04.4: 用品 supplies
  • 04.5: 其他 other


• 05: 親屬稱謂 kinship terms
  • 05.1: 長輩 elders
  • 05.2: 平輩 peers
  • 05.3: 晚輩 juniors
  • 05.4: 其他 other


• 06: 人品職業 character and occupation
  • 06.1: 性別年齡稱謂 gender, age and forms of address
  • 06.2: 身份稱謂 status and identity
  • 06.3: 職業稱謂 occupations
  • 06.4: 指稱稱謂 descriptive terms
  • 06.5: 殘疾人稱謂 terms for people with disabilities
  • 06.6: 貶稱蔑稱 derogatory terms
  • 06.7: 其他稱謂 other forms of address


• 07: 生理衛生 physiology and hygiene
  • 07.1: 頭部 head
  • 07.2: 四肢 limbs
  • 07.3: 身體 body
  • 07.4: 病名 diseases
  • 07.5: 醫療 medical care


• 08: 衣食起居 daily life
  • 08.1: 飲食 food and drink
  • 08.2: 米食 rice-based foods
  • 08.3: 義大利麵 wheat-based foods
  • 08.4: 肉食 meat
  • 08.5: 菜餚 dishes
  • 08.6: 其他食品 other foods
  • 08.7: 衣食穿戴 clothing and accessories
  • 08.8: 裝飾品 ornaments
  • 08.9: 起居 daily living
  • 08.A: 交通 transportation


• 09: 交際往來 social interaction
  • 09.1: 工商貿易 commerce and trade
  • 09.2: 人際交往 interpersonal relations
  • 09.3: 婚喪喜慶風俗 customs
  • 09.3.1: 生壽俗 birth and longevity customs
  • 09.3.2: 婚俗 wedding customs
  • 09.3.3: 喪俗 funeral customs


• 10: 教育文化 education and culture
  • 10.1: 教育 education
  • 10.2: 漢字 chinese characters
  • 10.3: 體育 sports
  • 10.4: 文娛 entertainment
  • 10.5: 藝術 arts
  • 10.6: 宗教 religion


• 11: 性質狀態 nature and state
  • 11.1: 五官感覺 sensory perception
  • 11.1.1: 視覺 sight
  • 11.1.2: 嗅覺 smell
  • 11.1.3: 味覺觸覺 taste and touch
  • 11.2: 性質狀態 nature and state
  • 11.3: 性情品格 temperament and character
  • 11.4: 儀表態度 appearance and demeanor
  • 11.5: 事理時勢 principles and situations


• 12: 動作行為 actions and behavior
  • 12.1: 軀體動作 physical actions
  • 12.2: 言語動作 verbal actions
  • 12.3: 心理活動 mental activity
  • 12.4: 日常生活 daily life
  • 12.5: 社會生活 social life
  • 12.6: 其他 other


• 13: 數量方位 quantity and direction
  • 13.1: 數目 numbers
  • 13.2: 特殊量詞 special measure words
  • 13.3: 方位 direction


• 14: 各類虛詞 function words