蝌蝌啃蠟

See also: 蝌蝌啃蜡

Chinese

				to gnaw; to nibble; to bite	candle; wax
trad. (蝌蝌啃蠟)		蝌	蝌	啃	蠟
simp. (蝌蝌啃蜡)		蝌	蝌	啃	蜡
alternative forms		蝌蝌齦蠟／蝌蝌龈蜡
Literally: “tadpole chews wax”.

Etymology

Phono-semantic matching of English Coca-Cola. This was one of the very first names for Coca-Cola used in China in 1927, at a time when each vendor would come up with their own rendition of foreign names in Chinese.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Kēkēkěnlà

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄜ ㄎㄜ ㄎㄣˇ ㄌㄚˋ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Kēkēkěnlà
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄜ ㄎㄜ ㄎㄣˇ ㄌㄚˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Kekekěnlà
    • Wade–Giles: Kʻo¹-kʻo¹-kʻên³-la⁴
    • Yale: Kē-kē-kěn-là
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Kekekeenlah
    • Palladius: Кэкэкэньла (Kɛkɛkɛnʹla)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɤ⁵⁵ kʰɤ⁵⁵ kʰən²¹⁴⁻²¹ lä⁵¹/

Proper noun

蝌蝌啃蠟

1. (obsolete) Coca-Cola

Synonyms

• 可口可樂／可口可乐 (Kěkǒukělè)