Yesterday, BBC reported that 19 Manglish (Malaysian English) and Singlish (Singaporean English) terms has been added into the Oxford English Dictionary. One of it is ‘teh tarik‘, a popular drink in Malaysia and Singapore.
The entry for teh tarik describes it as “sweet tea with milk, prepared by pouring the liquid back and forth repeatedly between two containers so as to produce a thick foam on top; a drink of this.”
Image from Carnival Munchies
Other full list of the Manglish and Singlish terms include:
– blur
– ang moh
– char siu
– chilli crab
– Chinese helicopter
– hawker centre
– HDB
– killer litter
– lepak (as a verb)
– shiok
– sabo
– sabo king
– sotong
– wah
– wet market
The update also includes some Hong Kong slang, also popularly used in Malaysia, such as ‘yum cha‘.
The Oxford English Dictionary was a trending topic a few months back due to the addition of the Malay word ‘lepak‘ as a noun into its pages, making it an accepted English word.