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la-li-loong

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Chinese Pidgin English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Macau Pidgin Portuguese, from Portuguese ladrão, from Latin latrō.

Noun

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la-li-loong

  1. thief
  2. a contemptible person
    • [1876, Celestial Empire (in English), 1875, quoted in Pidgin-English Sing-Song, or Songs and Stories in the China-English Dialect, London: Trübner & Co., page 127:
      The barber complained he had been called a la-li-loong, the Pidgin-English for thief.]
    • [1911, Jay Denby, Letters From China, and Some Eastern Sketches (in English), London: Murray & Evenden, Ltd., page 189:
      The natives are also more hostile to the sport as practiced by foreigners than heretofore, and trouble is becoming more and more common. The cry “Lally loong” (thief) follows the sportsman everywhere.]