English
Samsui woman
Samsui woman comes from Cantonese 三水.
- Cantonesemodern三水saam¹ seoi²
- Englishearliest quotation 2009Samsui woman
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Cantonesemodern三水saam¹ seoi²
- Englishearliest quotation 2009Samsui woman
Earliest quotation: 2009, Mark R. Frost, A Woman's World: “It’s believed that between 1934 and 1938 close to…”
Every English word from Cantonese 三水
Today it means
noun A Chinese female immigrant who came to Malaya or Singapore between the 1920s and 1940s in search of construction or industrial work, mostly from the Sanshui district of modern-day Guangdong in China.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Cantonese 三水 / Samsui woman