Hokkien
UK/ˈhɒkiɛn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Philippines/ˈhok.kjɛn/
Hokkien proper noun: a linguistic subgroup of the Southern Min (Min Nan) branch, of the Min branch, of the Sinitic (Chinese) branch, of the Sino-Tibetan language family which is mainly spoken in the south-eastern part of mainland China (Fujian province), Taiwan, and people of Hoklo descent elsewhere in the world, like in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern Vietnam, etc. Also the alternative form of Fujian.
Proper noun
Hokkien
- A linguistic subgroup of the Southern Min (Min Nan) branch, of the Min branch, of the Sinitic (Chinese) branch, of the Sino-Tibetan language family which is mainly spoken in the south-eastern part of mainland China (Fujian province), Taiwan, and people of Hoklo descent elsewhere in the world, like in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern Vietnam, etc.
- Almost 90 percent of Taiwan's 6 million occupants at the end of World War II spoke Hokkien.2011, Shelley Rigger, Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 28
- Because Hokkien is the most widely spoken local language (after Mandarin) in both Taiwan and Kinmen, this national language policy – when implemented in Kinmen – resulted in a different perceived language policy.2020, Tsung-lun Alan Wan, “Language Revitalization and Perceived Language Shift: A Case of Kinmenese Hokkien”, in Jens Damm, Hauke Neddermann, editors, Intercultural Dialogue across Borders: China...
- The varieties of Hokkien spoken in mainland China, usually as opposed to Taiwanese Taigi spoken in Taiwan.
Noun
Hokkien pl (plural only)
- A group of Han Chinese people whose traditional ancestral homes are in southern Fujian, South China, especially those that ancestrally spoke the Hokkien language.
Adjective
Hokkien (not comparable)
Also used as
Hokkien is also the alternative form of Fujian.
Hokkien meaning in Tagalog, Malay, Indonesian and Thai
Hokkien in Tagalog
- dialect of the Chinese language
- Fukien
Hokkien in Malay
- dialect of the Chinese language
- bahasa Hokkien
Hokkien in Indonesian
- dialect of the Chinese language
- bahasa Hokkien
Hokkien in Thai
- dialect of the Chinese language
- ภาษาจีนฮกเกี้ยน paasăa jeen hókgîan
More languagesFewer languages
- Hokkien in Vietnamese
- tiếng Mân Nam, tiếng Phúc Kiến
- Hokkien in Myanmar
- လက်ရှည်စကား lakhranyca.ka:, အင်္ကျီရှည်စကား angkyihranyca.ka:
Examples of Hokkien in a sentence
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:Hokkien.
- Under colonial rule, learning or speaking my grandma’s native Hokkien, along with dozens of indigenous languages, was illegal by law.2022 June 22, Zoe Yu, “Endangered Languages Are Worth Saving”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun...
Synonyms of Hokkien
Forms of Hokkien
| alternative form | Hokkian |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Hok Kian |
| alternative form | Hok-kian |
| alternative form | Hokien |
| alternative form | Hukkien |
| alternative form | Hokyen |
| alternative form | Hok-kien |
| alternative form | Hok-Kien |
| alternative form | Hokkeen |
| alternative form | Hok-keen |
| alternative form | Hokkeën |
| alternative form | Hokkëèn |
Origin of Hokkien
Borrowed from Hokkien 福建 (Hok-kiàn, “Fujian / Fukien”). Doublet of Fukien and Fujian.
Words formed from Hokkien
Phrases with Hokkien
Questions about Hokkien
- What does Hokkien mean?
- Hokkien means a linguistic subgroup of the Southern Min (Min Nan) branch, of the Min branch, of the Sinitic (Chinese) branch, of the Sino-Tibetan language family which is mainly spoken in the south-eastern part of mainland China (Fujian province), Taiwan, and people of Hoklo descent elsewhere in the world, like in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Southern Vietnam, etc.
- What is Hokkien in Tagalog?
- Hokkien in Tagalog is Fukien. See Hokkien meaning in Tagalog.
- How do you use Hokkien in a sentence?
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:Hokkien.
- What part of speech is Hokkien?
- Hokkien can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce Hokkien?
- Hokkien is pronounced /ˈhɒkiɛn/ (UK).
Words near Hokkien in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Hokkien (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “Hokkien.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hokkien. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.