* The diacritic ◌̃ represents a nasalized vowel.

[ SSS:

mee kiã ]

mee kia

Hokkien:

面囝

poj:

mī-kiáⁿ

expand for details Detailed etymology

definitions

noun

  1. a type of slender alkaline egg noodle made of wheat flour with a springy, firm texture and characteristic yellow colour, commonly used in Hokkien and Teochew dishes. It is made of the same dough as mee pok.
  2. Also recommended is the Kao Soi Kai ($7.50) with mee kia and chicken chunks smothered in a curry richly flavoured with coconut milk.

    — 1999 September 17, Angelica Tan. City Weekly, "Fast to cook, Gu to eat". p.5

  3. (synecdoche) any dish made using such noodles, especially bak chor mee or fishball noodles (which are often just referred to as so when ordering)

usage notes

Often compared with its wider and flatter counterpart, mee pok. It may also be seen as the Hokkien equivalent to you mee, though you mee is slightly thicker.


* 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.

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