Word.ws English Dictionary

Taiwanglish

UK/taɪˈwaŋɡlɪʃ/

Taiwanglish proper noun: the form of broken English proverbially encountered in the user manuals and technical documentation accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan.

Proper noun

Taiwanglish

  1. (rare) The form of broken English proverbially encountered in the user manuals and technical documentation accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan.
    • The motherboard configuration is explained in a tiny 25-page pamphlet, written in classic “Taiwanglish.” For example, there is a rubber-stamped notice on the title page: “IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT are registeled trademarks of.”1988, Alfred Poor, “The Cheapest ATs Ever” in PC Magazine VII, № 3, ‘786 Computer Systems: 786 Stanford Systems 286‒10’, page 160/3
    • Maybe he meant “Taiwanglish”, the barely comprehensible English that used to be common on manuals, instructions, etc., from Taiwanese and Japanese (Japanglish) products, although in recent years, I have noticed it to be a lot better.1995, “Hung Michael Nguyen” (username), “Re: Calvin and Hobbes” in rec.bicycles.misc, Usenet

Origin of Taiwanglish

Blend of Taiwan + English, after Chinglish etc.

Questions about Taiwanglish

What does Taiwanglish mean?
Taiwanglish means the form of broken English proverbially encountered in the user manuals and technical documentation accompanying electronic devices manufactured in Taiwan.
What part of speech is Taiwanglish?
Taiwanglish is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Taiwanglish?
Taiwanglish is pronounced /taɪˈwaŋɡlɪʃ/ (UK).

Words near Taiwanglish in the dictionary

  1. Taiwan studies
  2. Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu
  3. Taiwanese
  4. Taiwanese Hokkien
  5. Taiwaneseness
  6. Taiwanglish
  7. Taiwanization
  8. taiwanoside
  9. Taiwo
  10. Taiwos
  11. Taiwu

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Taiwanglish (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.

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Cite this entry: “Taiwanglish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taiwanglish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.