mee tai mak

English

Etymology

From Teochew 米篩目／米筛目 (bhi² tai¹ mag⁸), with the first element reanalyzed as the word mee, meaning “noodles”, from Hokkien 麵／面 (mī).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /ˌmiː ˌtaɪ ˈmak/

Noun

mee tai mak (uncountable)

1. (Singapore) Synonym of silver needle noodles
   • 2006 July 30, Teo Pau Lin, quoting Wong Hon Mun, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, page L28:

     I would have mee tai mak (short, thick noodles), either in soup or dry, with fishballs, pork balls or yong tau foo at this noodles shop near my house.