Old Teochew Words

I was thinking last night how did our Teochew language change and how did our people in our homeland just change so many words.

If Teochew was taught in school, one could just make amendments to the curriculum and the next generation of children would use these new words. However, for the last few decades, Mandarin has been the medium taught in schools and not Teochew.

So how does society just decide to change these words and everybody seems to just follow and use these new words in our homeland?

I have listed a few old Teochew words which are seldom or never use in our homeland and the corresponding new words, listed under “Modern Teochew”.

I think we should know of these old Teochew words and preserve them even if we speak in modern Teochew. Otherwise, after one hundred years, when we go and meet our ancestors, we will not be able to communicate with them.

Here are some of the words which I could remember. I am sure there are others. If you know of others, please share in the comment section.

Old Teochew	English	Modern Teochew
pu5huê2  浮火	to get angry	sên1ki3 生氣｜生气
pu5sên3  浮性	to get angry	sên1ki3 生氣｜生气
bhah4 肉	meat	nêg8 肉
bhah4zang3 肉粽	rice dumplings wrapped with leaves fill with meat	zang3gui5  粽球
zang5êg8 漴浴	to have a shower	soi2êg8  洗浴
zang5êg8bên5  灒浴棚	shower room	soi2êg8goin1 洗浴間｜洗浴间
dang1si1 東司	toilet	cê3so2 廁所｜厕所
dang1si1 東司	toilet	soi2ciu2goin1 洗手間｜洗手间
zao3ê6 竈下	kitchen	dou5bang5 廚房｜厨房
huê2sig8 火食 A 伙食	kitchen	dou5bang5 廚房｜厨房
seng1guin7 霜櫃	refrigerator, fridge	bian1sion1 冰箱
ruang2lou5 暖爐	steamboat, hotpot	huê2uê1 火鍋｜火锅
sai2cia1 駛車	drive a car	kui1cia1 開車｜开车
ang5mo5gio5 紅毛茄	tomato	huang1gio5 番茄
bho5nai6ho5 無奈何	unable to bear it, unbearable	du2m6duê3 堵唔綴｜堵唔缀