阿啄仔

Chinese

		prefix to names of people	pointy (nose)	diminutive suffix
trad. (阿啄仔)		阿	啄	仔
simp. #(阿啄仔)		阿	啄	仔
alternative forms		阿琢仔 阿噣仔 阿斲仔 阿卓仔 阿桌仔 阿琢仔 阿噣仔 阿斲仔 阿卓仔 阿桌仔 阿斗仔 阿督仔 阿凸仔 阿多仔 阿兜仔

Etymology

Refers (by synecdoche) to the typical pointy nose of Westerners.

Several etymologies have been proposed for tok:

• 噣, 啄: “beak; to peck with a beak” > “beak-like; pointy”. Compare English beak.
• 斲: 《台灣話大詞典》 proposes that the word is related to a story in Zhuangzi (“Ghostless Xu”, c. 370 to 301 B.C.E.):

  郢人堊慢其鼻端若蠅翼，使匠人斲之。匠石運斤成風，聽而斲之，盡堊而鼻不傷，郢人立不失容。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

  ---

  郢人垩慢其鼻端若蝇翼，使匠人斲之。匠石运斤成风，听而斲之，尽垩而鼻不伤，郢人立不失容。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

  Yǐng rén è màn qí bí duān ruò yíng yì, shǐ jiàngrén zhuó zhī. Jiàngshí yùn jīn chéng fēng, tīng ér zhuó zhī, jìn è ér bí bù shāng, yǐng rén lì bù shīróng. [Pinyin]

  There was once a man from Ying, and on the tip of his nose was some chalk, no thicker than a fly's wing. He asked a stone-mason to slice the chalk off. The stone-mason wielded his axe like the wind and sliced off the chalk following the man's instruction. The chalk was completely removed without injury to the man's nose. The man from Ying just stood there unflinchingly.

• 卓: “outstanding; tall”
• 斗: 《台語正字》 (張清波) cites Shiji: 成山斗入海. He claims that 斗 means “to protrude” > “pointy”. However, 斗 is more likely equivalent to 陡 (“steep; precipitous”).

Pronunciation

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): â-to̍k-é
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): a-tok-á

---

• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: â-to̍k-é
    • Hakka Romanization System: a^ˊ dog e^ˋ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: a¹ dog⁶ e³
    • Sinological IPA: /a²⁴⁻¹¹ tok̚⁵ e³¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese, Kinmen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: a-tok-á
    • Tâi-lô: a-tok-á
    • Phofsit Daibuun: a'dok'ar
    • IPA (Taipei): /a⁴⁴⁻³³ tɔk̚³²⁻⁴ a⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /a⁴⁴⁻³³ tɔk̚³²⁻⁴ a⁴¹/
    • IPA (Kinmen): /a⁴⁴⁻²² tɔk̚³²⁻⁵⁴ a⁵³/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /a⁴⁴⁻²² tɔk̚³²⁻⁴ a⁵³/

Noun

阿啄仔

1. (Xiamen and Taiwanese Hokkien, Taiwanese Hakka, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) westerner; Caucasian; roundeye (Classifier: 個／个)

   • 有一e5歐巴桑去美國chit4-tho5，欲去便所e5時，因為m7捌字，煞行入去查甫e0彼間，無外久，一e5阿督仔行入去，隨擱闖出來，一直喝講：「I am sorry，I am sorry。」尾a0，彼e5阿婆仔行出來氣chua3chua3講：「夭壽哦！一e5阿督仔真無禮貌，行入來人e5便所，也擱怪人門「抑m7鎖咧！」 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     有一e5欧巴桑去美国chit4-tho5，欲去便所e5时，因为m7捌字，煞行入去查甫e0彼间，无外久，一e5阿督仔行入去，随搁闯出来，一直喝讲：「I am sorry，I am sorry。」尾a0，彼e5阿婆仔行出来气chua3chua3讲：「夭寿哦！一e5阿督仔真无礼貌，行入来人e5便所，也搁怪人门「抑m7锁咧！」 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 曹麗華 (ed.), 笑詼一則 抑m7鎖咧

     Ū chi̍t ê o͘-bá-sáng khì Bí-kok chhit-thô, beh khì piān-só͘ ê sî, in-ūi m̄ bat-jī, soah kiâⁿ ji̍p-khì cha-po͘ ê hit keng, bô-gōa-kú, chi̍t ê a-tok-á kiâⁿ ji̍p-khì, sûi koh chhoàng chhut-lâi, it-ti̍t hoah kóng: “I am sorry, I am sorry.” Bóe--á, hit-ê a-pô-á kiâⁿ chhut-lâi khì-chhòa-chhòa kóng: “Iáu-siū ô͘! Chi̍t ê a-tok-á chin bô lé-māu, kiâⁿ ji̍p-lâi lâng ê piān-só͘, iá-koh koài lâng mn̂g “a̍h m̄ só--leh!” [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     There was an old granny who went to America on vacation. When it came time for her to go to the restroom, because she was illiterate, she ended up going into the men's room. Before long, a roundeye walked in, then quickly rushed out as he kept yelling, "I am sorry, I am sorry." Finally, the old lady came out, angrily saying, "Screw him! The roundeye is very rude. He barged into my bathroom, but he still blamed me, saying the door 'wasn't locked!' (a̍h m̄ só--leh, which sounds like "I am sorry")"

Usage notes

• Usually used in reference to westerners. Like most such ethnic terms, the word is either insulting or neutral depending on who says it, and in what context.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 西方人 (“Westerner; Caucasian”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		西方人, 西洋人, 洋人, 白人, 白種人
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	老外, 毛子
	Taiwan	洋人, 西洋人, 白人, 老外
	Malaysia	紅毛人
	Singapore	洋人, 外國佬
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	洋人, 洋鬼子
Central Plains Mandarin	Wanrong	洋人
	Xi'an	洋人
Lanyin Mandarin	Lanzhou	洋人
Southwestern Mandarin	Wuhan	洋人, 高鼻子
	Liuzhou	番鬼佬
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	洋鬼子
Cantonese	Guangzhou	西人, 老西, 老番, 鬼佬, 番鬼佬, 鬼子佬, 紅毛頭, 紅毛 dated, 紅毛鬼 dated
	Hong Kong	西人, 白人, 鬼佬, 番鬼佬, 老番 dated, 紅毛鬼 dated, 白鬼 dated
	Macau	鬼佬
	Taishan	老番, 番鬼佬
	Kaiping (Chikan)	老番, 番鬼, 番鬼佬, 紅毛
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	鬼佬
	Singapore (Guangfu)	鬼佬
Gan	Nanchang	洋人
	Lichuan	洋人
	Pingxiang	洋人
Hakka	Meixian	番人, 番鬼仔
	Yudu	洋人
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	洋人, 西洋人, 阿啄仔, 鉤鼻仔, 紅毛番
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	洋人, 西洋人, 阿啄仔, 鉤鼻仔, 紅毛番
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	洋人, 西洋人, 阿啄仔, 鉤鼻仔, 紅毛番
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	洋人, 西洋人, 鉤鼻公, 紅毛番
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	洋人, 西洋人, 阿啄仔, 鉤鼻仔, 紅毛番
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	西洋人, 紅毛番
	Kuching (Hepo)	紅毛人
Southern Min	Xiamen	番仔, 阿啄仔, 紅毛番, 𧺤毛的, 番仔鬼
	Quanzhou	番仔, 紅毛番, 𧺤毛的
	Zhangzhou	番仔, 紅毛番, 𧺤毛的
	Kaohsiung	紅毛仔
	Changhua (Lukang)	阿啄仔
	Taichung	啄鼻仔
	Taichung (Wuqi)	阿啄仔
	Tainan	西洋儂, 阿啄仔, 啄鼻仔
	Taitung	阿啄仔
	Penang (Hokkien)	紅毛, 紅毛猴
	Singapore (Hokkien)	紅毛, 紅毛儂, 紅毛猴
	Manila (Hokkien)	化人, 白種人, 西洋儂, 西方人
	Shantou	番儂, 紅毛囝, 番囝
	Jieyang	紅毛, 紅毛囝, 紅毛鬼
	Singapore (Teochew)	紅毛, 紅毛儂
	Leizhou	鉤鼻鬼
	Haikou	番鬼, 紅毛, 高鼻綠目, 高鼻塌目
Wu	Shanghai	洋人
	Wenzhou	番人, 高鼻頭
Xiang	Changsha	紅毛洋人, 洋人子, 洋人

References

• 劉建仁 (2011 March 18) “阿督仔（a-tɔk-aˋ）──老外、洋人、老美”, in 台灣話的語源與理據 (in Chinese), retrieved 2016-10-27

Further reading

• “Entry #4617”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.