Hoihow

English

Etymology

From the Postal Romanization from Cantonese 海口 (hoi² hau²).

Proper noun

Hoihow

1. Dated form of Haikou: the Cantonese-derived name.
   • 1895, E. J. Eitel, Europe in China: The History of Hongkong from the Beginning to the Year 1882‎^[2], London: Luzac & Company, page 242:

     Junks from Pakhoi, Hoihow and Tinpak, in the south-west, commenced in 1846 a prosperous trade with Hongkong.

   • 1925, Harry A. Franck, Roving Through Southern China‎^[3], The Century Company, →OCLC, page 321 to 322:

     But the rolling had become chronic. We rolled all day and we rolled all night, we rolled all next morning and most of the afternoon, for though we should easily have been in what passes for the harbor of Hoihow early that second day we—well, it was foggy, to be sure, and Hainan Straits are among the most dangerous in the world.

   • 1953, Gretta Palmer, God's Underground in Asia‎^[4], New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 205:

     By late August, over twenty-five Catholic orphanages had been attacked, and the nation-wide campaign was in full swing. Four institutions were denounced in that month alone, including those at Hoihow, Hainan Island, at Kwangchowan, Kwangtung, at Wenchow and Hangchow, Chekiang.

   • 1956, Theodore Shabad, China's Changing Map: A Political and Economic Geography of the Chinese People's Republic‎^[5], New York: Frederick A. Praeger, page 168:

     The main city of Hainan is Hoihow, situated on the northern coast of the island opposite the Luichow Peninsula. A shallow-water port, with a population of about 50,000, Hoihow has replaced the formerly island center of Kiungchow or Kiungshan, just south of the port.

   • 1972, Seymour Topping, “Departure”, in Journey Between Two Chinas‎^[6], Harper & Row, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 101:

     In Hoihow, the provincial capital, I stayed in the French Catholic Mission. Shortly after my arrival, the French Bishop Dominique Desperben led me to the flat roof of the mission. We looked over Hoihow, a dirty sprawling city of 250,000 people, many of them living in old two-story buildings made of mud and white plaster, across the narrow Hainan Strait to the Liuchow Peninsula on the mainland.

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Haikou”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[7], volume 2, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1214, column 2: “Sometimes appears as Hoihow.”
• “Hoihow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Hoihow” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.