Occupations in Penang Hokkien
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On this page I list out the name of various occupations in Penang Hokkien. There is also a related page called Job Terms in Penang Hokkien which looks at the various words related to working and holding a job.
Quite often, we state the activity, for example, "grow vegetables" to mean "farmer", "sell meat" to mean "butcher", and so on. To say "a person who ...", we add "-eh3 lang2" to the action. Thus, "sell meat" (beh33 bak1) becomes "beh33-bak3-eh3 lang2", literally "person who sells meat."
- bus driver (drive bus): (noun) hnua33 bas1(-eh3 lang2) [huã-bas-e-laŋ]
- butcher (sell meat): (noun) beh33 bak3(-eh3 lang2) [be-baʔ-e-laŋ]
- chef: (noun) cong1phor3 [tsɔŋ-phɔ]
- clerk: (noun) cai3hu3 [tsai-hu]
- confinement matron: (noun) goay3lai33 poh2 [goe-lai-po]
- doctor: (noun) doc1tor1 [dɔk-tər], lo1kun1 [lo-kun] (from "dukun", Malay loanword), i3seng1 [i-seŋ]
- employee, servant: (noun) kang3lang2 [kaŋ-laŋ]
- factory worker: (noun) co1 kang3chniau4-eh3 lang2 [tso kaŋ-tshiãu-e laŋ]
- farmer (grow vegetables): (noun) ceng1 chye3(-eh3 lang2) [tseŋ-tsai-e-laŋ] , co1 chan2-eh3 lang2 [tso-tshan-e-laŋ]
- government servant, civil servant: (noun) co1 ceng1hu1 kang1 [tso-tseŋ-hu-kaŋ]
- headman: (noun) thau3lang2 [thau-laŋ]
- headmaster: (noun) hau33tniau4 [hau-tiãu]
- labourer: (noun) ku3li4 [ku-li]
- madam (female procurer): (noun) or3kui3poh2 [ɔ-kui-po]
- manager: (noun) keng3li4 [keŋ-li]
- martial art master (noun) su3hu3 [su-hu]
- nurse (noun) mi3si1 [mi-si]
- physician (of traditional medicine): (noun) sin3seh1 [sin-sɛ̃]
- pimp: (noun) or3kui3thau2 [ɔ-kui-thau]
- police: (noun) ma1ta2 [ma-ta]
- servant: (noun) kang3lang2 [kaŋ-laŋ] , (maid) gin1na1 kang1 [gin-na-kaŋ] , (Indonesian maid) In1ni3 poh2 [in-ni-po]
- specialist: (noun) thau3chiu4 [thau-tsiu]
- supervisor: (noun) kuan1 kang1-eh3 lang2 [kuan-kaŋ-e-laŋ]
- taxi driver: (noun) hnua33 tek1si4-eh3 lang2 [huã-tɛk-si-e-laŋ]
- teacher: (verb) sin3sneah1 [sin-sɛ̃] , lau33su1 [lau-su]
- trishaw pedaler (noun) lang3chia3 lang2 [laŋ-tshia-laŋ]
View full list of Penang Hokkien Vocabulary
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