• In 1822, the town plan for Singapore formulated by Sir Stamford Raffles stated that there must be a covered corridor of a minimum width constructed in front of every shophouse, to form an unobstructed pedestrian walkway. The plan also specified that the width of the corridor should be no less than five feet. This type of corridor came to be called a “five-foot-way”, or “五脚基” to the Chinese.
• “五脚基” is borrowed from the Hokkien dialect, where it is pronounced as gho kah ki. In fact, this term originated from the Malay term kaki lima: the word lima means “five”, while kaki means “foot”, which became transliterated and paraphrased as kah ki (literally, “foot-way”) in Hokkien.

Kicking shuttlecocks, savouring rickshaw noodles, browsing comics at a streetside “library”, joining a guided walking tour – the Five-foot-way Festival next weekend invites the public to take a nostalgic walk down Chinatown’s streets and five-foot-ways. (Lianhe Zaobao, 14/3/2019)

骑楼 (Mainland China), 五脚距 (Mainland China), 五脚砌 (Mainland China)