Singaporean Mandarin Database

This database contains a collection of Mandarin terms which have cultural, historical or sentimental value unique to Singapore. These terms may be used by Singaporeans in the past or at present. Some of the terms are read in print while others are used in our everyday conversations.

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华

huá

巫

wū

印

yìn

Chinese, Malay, and Indian

Culture

文化

Culture

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Chinese, Malay, and Indian

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Culture

文化

Culture

释义

名词

华族、马来族、印度族的简称。

DEFINITION

Noun

The Mandarin term “华巫印” is an abbreviation to refer to Chinese, Malays and Indians.

由来
  • 在新马一带，“华巫印”的使用显示了新马多元种族的社会特色。
  • “华”代表华族，而“印”代表印度族。对于“巫” 代表马来族的说法，主要是因为中国古代文献中记载华人下南洋时，将马来族称为 “巫来由” ，也就是Melayu的音译。马来或“马来由”的译名则较迟出现。
  • 以“巫”来称呼马来族，较常见于马来西亚，一些称呼如巫族、巫人、巫裔，便是巫来由的简写。
ETYMOLOGY

  • In Singapore and Malaysia, usage of the term reflects the region’s unique multi-racial societies. 

  • The characters “华” and “印” refer to the Chinese and Indians respectively. As for the use of the character “巫” to refer to Malays, it is said that this first appeared in ancient records of the Chinese voyages to Nanyang (present-day Singapore), in which the Malays were referred to as “巫来由”. The term “巫来由” is the transliteration of the Malay word Melayu . The transliteration of Melayu into “马来” or “马来由” only appeared later on. 

  • Use of the character “巫” to refer to Malays is more common in Malaysia, and has given rise to other terms such as “巫族” (the Malay race), “巫人” (Malay person/people), “巫裔” (people of Malay descent).

例句
退休少校彭尼率领的11名核心义工，包括华巫印和欧亚四大种族。他努力凝聚大家，过去六年从歌唱小组扩大到三个小组，帮助对象也不限种族宗教，以低收入、无收入的租赁组屋居民为主。（《联合晚报》，7/4/2019）
SAMPLE SENTENCE
The 11 core volunteers led by the retired Major Penny were made up of the four major races, namely Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian. Over the past six years, he has not only worked hard to unite everyone and expanded the single singing group into three groups, but has also provided assistance to low or no income personnel who live in rented HDB flats, regardless of their race or religion. (Lianhe Wanbao, 7/4/2019)
参考资料
点击查看华巫印的参考资料
REFERENCES

Click here to view references for Chinese, Malay, and Indian

 

 

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