Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

jiak kentang

[ˌt͡s˭jaʔ˨˩ ˈk˭ən˧.t˭aŋ˦]

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
ji-ak ken-tang
IPA
[ˌt͡s˭jaʔ˨˩ ˈk˭ən˧.t˭aŋ˦]
27
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

Of a person, to be westernized; to have abandoned one's own cultural traditions in favor of a westernized lifestyle.

Derogatory

verb

Of an ethnically Chinese person, to be mostly monolingual in English and unable to speak Chinese well.

Derogatory

verb

To eat potatoes.

Humorous

adj

Westernized; rejecting aspects of one's own culture or heritage in favor of Western ideologies and practices.

Derogatory

Etymology

From Malaysian and Singaporean Hokkien 食kentang or 食蕳砃 /食𫈉砃 (chia̍h kan-tang), from 食 (chia̍h, “to eat”) + Malay kentang (“potatoes”). Historically, the choice of potatoes over rice as a staple food, or its inclusion in one’s diet was seen as a shift towards a more Westernized lifestyle.

Word Breakdown

  • Root: 食kentang, kentang

Usage

Inflected Forms

jiak kantang (alternative)

Phrases

ho kua bo ho jiak

Frequently Paired Words

jialat ho kua bo ho jiak banana jook-sing Pinkerton syndrome Macaulay's children

Questions

How do you pronounce jiak kentang?
The recorded pronunciation is [ˌt͡s˭jaʔ˨˩ ˈk˭ən˧.t˭aŋ˦].
What does jiak kentang mean?
Of a person, to be westernized; to have abandoned one's own cultural traditions in favor of a westernized lifestyle.
Where does jiak kentang come from?
From Malaysian and Singaporean Hokkien 食kentang or 食蕳砃 /食𫈉砃 (chia̍h kan-tang), from 食 (chia̍h, “to eat”) + Malay kentang (“potatoes”). Historically, the choice of potatoes over rice as a staple food, or its inclusion in one’s diet was seen as a shift towards a more Westernized lifestyle.

How to pronounce jiak kentang

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “jiak kentang”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling ([ˌt͡s˭jaʔ˨˩ ˈk˭ən˧.t˭aŋ˦]) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “jiak kentang”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “jiak kentang” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.