pak pai
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Cantonese 白牌車/白牌车 (baak6 paai4-2 ce1), literally ‘white numberplate’.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]pak pai (plural pak pai or pak pais)
- (now historical) A car used as an illegal taxi in Hong Kong. [from 20th c.]
- 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 471:
- He took pak-pais, knowing they were less under the thumb of the police.