Commonly found variants; note these may range from acceptable alternatives to non-standard forms or incorrect spellings*.
* 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:

than chiah than chiak tan chiak tan chiah

than jiak

Hokkien:

趁食

poj:

thàn-chia̍h

expand for details Detailed etymology

definitions

verb

  1. to earn a living however one can; to work just to feed oneself and survive
  2. synonyms:

  3. to prostitute oneself; to have to do unpleasant things and scrounge to earn money
  4. synonyms:


adjective

  1. (of a job) done solely to earn a living and survive

usage notes

Not to be confused with tham jiak.



entries starting with

'than jiak'