Meanings
- ManglishSinglishinvariableTo eat.
Mdm Zaiton: You makan already? Eat what?
2023, Alfian Sa'at, “Dreamplay”, in Collected Plays Two, Singapore: Ethos Books, →ISBN
- ManglishSinglishuncountableFood.
“HDB there already got makan, they want to come here for what? So leceh,” Mr Razali says. He opens his stall only on weekdays, from 6.30 AM to about 3 PM in the afternoon.
2021 June 8, Sean Lim, quoting Razali, “These Stalls Used To Fuel Workers At Industrial Parks. Now, They Are Barely Surviving”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 16 Jun 20251 more example
It’s not uncommon for Singapore’s F&B landscape to shift in an almost rapid and unsteady fashion. Some businesses morph and transform, closing and reopening spaces to keep up with changes.
2024 April 14, Daniel Peters, “In Memoriam: Our Makan Places Lost to Time”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 17 May 2025
Origin
- Malaymakan
- Englishmakan
Unadapted borrowing from Malay makan. Doublet of kai.
More words from Malay
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
makan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makan
“makan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makan. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “makan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/makan.
Source: makan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.