Etymology

khanhoo

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Today it means: A Chinese card game of the draw-and-discard type. Full definition →

Mandarin 看虎 ← Hokkien 看虎
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The story

  1. Hokkien · borrowed from看虎
  2. Mandarin · borrowed from看虎
  3. English todaykhanhoo

From either Mandarin 看虎 (kàn hǔ, literally “watching the tiger”) or Hokkien 看虎 (khàn hó͘, literally “watching the tiger”). Compare Tagalog kuwaho, Spanish cuajo, Hokkien 看好 (khòaⁿ-hó), 看護 /看护 (khàn-hō͘ / khòaⁿ-hō͘ / khan-hō͘).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.