* Singlish is a largely spoken creole, and as such descriptivism (recording forms that reflect actual pronunciation in spoken language, or as appearing in the linguistic corpus) is more pertinent than strict prescriptivism. Nevertheless, the use of more standard forms (or for words originating in languages with Latin script, such as Malay, accurate to the original spelling) is recommended and encouraged.
also can:
chiu hu kia jiuhu kia
* The diacritic ◌̃ represents a nasalized vowel.
[ SSS:
jiu hu kiã ]
jiu hu kia
→
Hokkien:
州府
poj:
chiu-hú
+
囝
poj:
kiáⁿ
definitions
noun
- a Malaysian; someone from Malaysia
i see those sinkie who work under jihu kia/mei sure tio bully until jialat jialat by them ... but they in malaysia also kena bully by the bumi they should know bullying is not a nice feeling wat ... why they come here must treat sinkie like that?
— 2023 May 25, heroking. Hardwarezone, "how come jiuhu kia/mei like to bully sinkie in workplace?". https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/how-come-jiuhu-kia-mei-like-to-bully-sinkie-in-workplace.6907314/
synonyms:
usage notes
Often abbreviated to JHK.
* The nasal vowel is almost always unmarked by speakers, though it is very important to the pronunciation of the term. In a dipthong or tripthong, the recommended convention is to mark the final vowel, unless it is spelled using a repeated letter, in which case the first-occurring repeated letter is marked.
other credits:
u/Secularcuboid (Reddit) for the suggestion.