Etymology

towkay

T1O1W4K5A1Y4

Today it means: A business owner; boss (especially a Chinese Malaysian or Chinese Singaporean boss). Full definition →

Hokkien 頭家 /头家
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Hokkien · borrowed from頭家 /头家“boss”
  2. English todaytowkay

From Hokkien 頭家 /头家 (thâu-ke, “boss”). Doublet of taoke.

Words from the same roots

Hokkien頭家 all →

taoke

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.