Hokyen

Proper noun

Hokkien

1. (chiefly Southeast Asia) 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
   1. (Taiwan, chiefly Southeast Asia) The varieties of Hokkien spoken in mainland China, usually as opposed to Taiwanese Taigi spoken in Taiwan.

See all 6 meanings of Hokkien