麥當勞

See also: 麦当劳

Chinese

		phonetic
trad. (麥當勞)		麥	當勞
simp. (麦当劳)		麦	当劳

Etymology

Originally a transcription of English MacDonnell (McDonnell) in Cantonese for MacDonnell Road in Hong Kong. It was re-used to transcript English McDonald's/McDonald by McDonald's Hong Kong managing director Daniel Ng in the late 1970s or early 1980s, purposely chosen due to the existing familiarity of the road. Before, only the English name was present in official signage. A more direct transcription, 麥當奴／麦当奴 (mak6 dong1 nou4), was proposed, but the derogatory connotation of 奴 (nú, “slave”) led to it being replaced with 勞／劳 (literally “work”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Màidāngláo

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄞˋ ㄉㄤ ㄌㄠˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mak⁶ dong¹ lou⁴
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): Ma̍k-tông-lò / Mái-tang-lâu
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): Be̍h-tang-lô

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bhêh⁸ dang¹ lao⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Màidāngláo
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄞˋ ㄉㄤ ㄌㄠˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Màidangláo
    • Wade–Giles: Mai⁴-tang¹-lao²
    • Yale: Mài-dāng-láu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Maydanglau
    • Palladius: Майданлао (Majdanlao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /maɪ̯⁵¹ tɑŋ⁵⁵ lɑʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: mak⁶ dong¹ lou⁴
    • Yale: mahk dōng lòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mak⁹ dong¹ lou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: meg⁶ dong¹ lou⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɐk̚² tɔːŋ⁵⁵ lou̯²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Ma̍k-tông-lò / Mái-tang-lâu
    • Hakka Romanization System: mag dong^ˊ lo^ˇ / mai^ˋ dang lau^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mag⁶ dong¹ lo² / mai³ dang⁴ lau¹
    • Sinological IPA: /mak̚⁵ toŋ²⁴ lo¹¹/, /mai̯³¹ taŋ⁵⁵ lau̯²⁴/

Note: Mái-tang-lâu - from Mandarin.

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Be̍h-tang-lô
    • Tâi-lô: Be̍h-tang-lô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: beqdanglooi
    • IPA (Taipei): /be(ʔ)⁴⁻¹¹ taŋ⁴⁴⁻³³ lo²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /be(ʔ)⁴⁻²¹ taŋ⁴⁴⁻³³ lɤ²³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bhêh⁸ dang¹ lao⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: be̍h tang lâu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /beʔ⁴⁻² taŋ³³⁻²³ lau⁵⁵/

Proper noun

麥當勞

1. McDonald's (fast food restaurant chain)
2. Alternative term for 麥克唐納／麦克唐纳 (Màikètángnà, “McDonald”), a transliteration of the English surname McDonald

Synonyms

• (McDonald's):

Dialectal synonyms of 麥當勞 (“McDonald's”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		麥當勞
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	麥當勞
	Singapore	麥當勞
Cantonese	Hong Kong	麥當勞, 老麥, M記, 麥記, 牡丹樓, 金拱門
	Macau	麥當勞, 老麥, M記
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	麥當勞
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	麥當勞
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	麥當勞
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	麥當勞
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	麥當勞

Descendants

• → Mongolian: ᠮᠠᠢ
  ᠳ᠋ᠠᠩ
  ᠯᠤᠤ (mai dang luu)