taoke
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Philippines/ˈt̪ʰaʊ̯.kɛ/
taoke noun: boss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss).
Noun
taoke (plural taokes)
- boss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)
- term of address for a business owner boss (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)
- This mixing can be seen in the language of the text, which is replete that languages other than standard putonghua: there are Hokkien terms that will be unfamiliar to those who do not speak minnanhua, which is further characterized by the use of Philippine Chinese expressions (huanke for the...2007, Bai Ren 白刃, translated by Joaquin Sy 施華謹, Lagalag sa Nanyang 南洋漂流記 (Nanyang Piaoliuji), Diliman, Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, →ISBN
Synonyms of taoke
Forms of taoke
| plural | taokes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | tao ke |
Origin of taoke
Borrowed from Hokkien 頭家 /头家 (thâu-ke, “boss”). Doublet of towkay. Compare Tagalog taoke, Tausug tawki, Malay tauke, Indonesian tauke, Burmese ထောင်ကဲ (htaungkai:), Puyuma tawki, Rukai tawki, Sakizaya tawki.
Questions about taoke
- What does taoke mean?
- Taoke means boss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss).
- What part of speech is taoke?
- Taoke is a noun.
- How do you pronounce taoke?
- Taoke is pronounced /ˈt̪ʰaʊ̯.kɛ/ (Philippines).
- What is the plural of taoke?
- The plural of taoke is taokes.
Words near taoke in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: taoke (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: “taoke.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taoke. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.