LONDON, May 13 — The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 19 Singlish words in its latest update yesterday, a BBC report said.
They were joined by 13 Hong Kong terms.
That means words like “wah”, “shiok”, “sabo” and “blur” are now officially recognised as acceptable English, the OED said.
Just like the great chicken rice debate, Malaysians will argue that some words may have their roots in Malaysia like “teh tarik.”
It remains to be seen if local linguists will be crossing swords with their Singapore counterparts over them.
The OED records the meaning and development of the English language.
It said that, for a word to qualify, there must be “several independent examples of the word being used, and also evidence the word has been in use for a reasonable amount of time”.
How many of the words below do you know the meaning of?
Singapore English words (if you don’t know the meaning, click here):
ang moh
blur
char siu
chilli crab
Chinese helicopter
hawker centre
HDB
killer litter
lepak (both noun and verb)
shiok
sabo (both noun and verb)
sabo king
sotong
teh tarik
wah
wet market
Hong Kong English words (if you don’t know the meaning, click here):
char siu
compensated dating
dai pai dong
kaifong
guanxi
lucky money
sandwich class
milk tea
shroff
sitting-out area
siu mei
yum cha
wet market
