Anyone know the Hanzi for "chiau ngeh" (scorpion)? Thanks a bundle! And for the record: Yes, I will accept "no such Hanzi" as a valid answer!
More Chinese characters for Hokkien words
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Sim
Mark,
Sorry. Didn't respond to that because I've never known the Hokkien word for scorpion. I suppose I never really saw a live scorpion in Penang when I was young. We had of course "gia3/7 kang1" (centipede), and there has been some discussion here about the difference between "ti3/7 tu1" and "la3/7 gia5" (Niuc I think explained that the latter is a specific type of spider(-like animal), a "daddy long legs").
Other insects which come to mind are:
1. chau1 me(h)8 kong1 (grasshopper), but for "dragonfly" we use 'belalang' (which I think Niuc pointed out is a misuse of the Malay word, as it actually means grasshopper in Malay).
2. hO3/7 sin5 (fly).
3. ku1 (beetle) - also used for "tortoise", but perhaps with a different character.
4. bat4 sat4 (bed-bug).
5. ka3/7 cuah8 (cockcroach).
6. gu7 pi1 (tick) - the first word is "cow", but we used this word for dog ticks as well. Some of my cousins insisted on calling them kau1 pi1.
7. hia3 (ant) - ang3 hia3 or hue1 hia3 were those smallish fire-ants whose sting was very itchy/painful. And, of course, pE(h)3 hia (termite).
8. bang2 (mosquito), and chu1 (mosquito larva).
9. bue1 (i?)ah8 (butterfly), and sE~7 mO7 thang5 (caterpillar) - "growing hair worm" !
10. cang7 kri1 (cicada) - this word looks strange because of the 'kr-'. Perhaps it's a loan from Malay? I seem to recall a more Hokkien-looking word, was it something like: am3/7 po/O1 cE5?
12. tO7 kau1 (mole cricket) - I always thought these were such *cute* insects!
13. gu7 mOh8 (horsefly) - a large biting fly, which sucked blood from humans and cows.
Well, as many older readers of this Forum know, I love "categories", so it was fun to think up these insects and other related creepy-crawlies (I realised after writing this up that spiders, scorpions, centipedes are not officially insects - not sure if ticks and bedbugs are).
Perhaps people can think of others. For example, I've no idea what the word for "flea" or "cricket" is.
Regards,
Sim.
Sorry. Didn't respond to that because I've never known the Hokkien word for scorpion. I suppose I never really saw a live scorpion in Penang when I was young. We had of course "gia3/7 kang1" (centipede), and there has been some discussion here about the difference between "ti3/7 tu1" and "la3/7 gia5" (Niuc I think explained that the latter is a specific type of spider(-like animal), a "daddy long legs").
Other insects which come to mind are:
1. chau1 me(h)8 kong1 (grasshopper), but for "dragonfly" we use 'belalang' (which I think Niuc pointed out is a misuse of the Malay word, as it actually means grasshopper in Malay).
2. hO3/7 sin5 (fly).
3. ku1 (beetle) - also used for "tortoise", but perhaps with a different character.
4. bat4 sat4 (bed-bug).
5. ka3/7 cuah8 (cockcroach).
6. gu7 pi1 (tick) - the first word is "cow", but we used this word for dog ticks as well. Some of my cousins insisted on calling them kau1 pi1.
7. hia3 (ant) - ang3 hia3 or hue1 hia3 were those smallish fire-ants whose sting was very itchy/painful. And, of course, pE(h)3 hia (termite).
8. bang2 (mosquito), and chu1 (mosquito larva).
9. bue1 (i?)ah8 (butterfly), and sE~7 mO7 thang5 (caterpillar) - "growing hair worm" !
10. cang7 kri1 (cicada) - this word looks strange because of the 'kr-'. Perhaps it's a loan from Malay? I seem to recall a more Hokkien-looking word, was it something like: am3/7 po/O1 cE5?
12. tO7 kau1 (mole cricket) - I always thought these were such *cute* insects!
13. gu7 mOh8 (horsefly) - a large biting fly, which sucked blood from humans and cows.
Well, as many older readers of this Forum know, I love "categories", so it was fun to think up these insects and other related creepy-crawlies (I realised after writing this up that spiders, scorpions, centipedes are not officially insects - not sure if ticks and bedbugs are).
Perhaps people can think of others. For example, I've no idea what the word for "flea" or "cricket" is.
Regards,
Sim.
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bang
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hong
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hong
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hong
On the subject of creepy-crawlies, two others come to mind - though, one is a reptile and the other an amphibian:Sim wrote: Well, as many older readers of this Forum know, I love "categories", so it was fun to think up these insects and other related creepy-crawlies (I realised after writing this up that spiders, scorpions, centipedes are not officially insects - not sure if ticks and bedbugs are).
domestic lizard - sin-t'áng (<something> 蟲)
frog - Okay, this one I have no idea, but my Penang friends insist that it is simply "ka tak" (from Malay), which I must object to! (sorry, Sim - the **purist** in me cries out in defiance again!)
During my stint in Penang, I often heard 'dog tick' referred to as 'kau1 sat4' (which suggests that sat4 is a general term for mammalian fleas, similar to the Yue dialect).Sim wrote: gu7 pi1 (tick) - the first word is "cow", but we used this word for dog ticks as well. Some of my cousins insisted on calling them kau1 pi1.
I heard "c'iau ngéh" being used for "scorpion" in Penang. Though, one of my Teochew friends living in Bukit Mertajam on the mainland refers to it as "hiap kia" (literally 蝎子?).hong wrote:sorry,I should type my name hong above.I don't know where mark got the word from about scorpion but dict I have only put giat-a 蠍仔and giat-a-thang 蟲.
Maybe the 'ngéh' in "c'iau ngéh" could be a corrupted pronunciation of 'ngét' or 'giat' 蠍? And 'c'iau' could be 蟑, i.e. 蟑蠍? Just a guess.
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Guest
Hi Mark (sorry on *my* partMark Yong wrote: ... my Penang friends insist that it is simply "ka tak" (from Malay), which I must object to! (sorry, Sim - the **purist** in me cries out in defiance again!)
),Yes, indeed, I know of no other word for "frog" than the borrowed one from Malay. However, we *never* say just "ka tak", but use the full form "ka3-tam3-pu1-lu2", from Malay "katak puru". Note the assimilation of "-tah" (Malay "-ak" is only a spelling convention, and is actually pronunced with a glottal stop at the end) to "-tam", because of the "p-" which follows.
My Malay is not very good. Perhaps Niuc can tell us if "katak" means "frog" and "katak puru" means a particular type of frog? A search on the internet implied that "katak puru" might mean specifically "toad". If that is the case, then we appear to have another case of "misuse" of a borrowed word (similar to "belalang"): in my Hokkien, "ka3-tam3-pu1-lu2" is used for any sort of frog, not specifically for a toad.
Sim.