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.
* 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:
zhat za zhah
zha
简
繁
→
Mandarin / cantonese:
乍
pinyin:
zhà
+
诈
詐
pinyin:
zhà
Detailed etymology
definitions
noun
- a turn-based finger game played between two (or sometimes more) players. Players may choose between three different symbols made with the hands, which are called by various names, but always include: two fingers held together pointing upwards (‘man’), two fingers held together pointing away from oneself (‘plane’), and a closed fist (‘rock’), with ‘man’ beating ‘rock’, which beats ‘plane’, which beats ‘man’.
At the beginning of the game, players hold up their hands in the ‘man’ position, and play e.g. scissors paper stone to decide who goes first. On their turn, a player shouts ‘zha!’ and changes their hands to show their choice of hand symbol, while the opponent does the same; if any of their symbols beats any of the opponent's, the opponent's corresponding hand is ‘knocked out’ for the rest of the game. The winner is the player who ‘knocks out’ both their opponent's hands first.