taoke

plural taokes · alternative tao ke

1. PhilippinesChinese Filipinoboss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)
2. PhilippinesChinese Filipinoterm of address for a business owner boss (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)

   1 more example

   This mixing can be seen in the language of the text, which is replete that languages other than standard putonghua: there are Hokkien terms that will be unfamiliar to those who do not speak minnanhua, which is further characterized by the use of Philippine Chinese expressions (huanke for the huaqiao, tuadi for the residence certificate, tsut si a for mestizo, taoke for employer, sengdi for business, for instance); and there are Chinese-character phonetic transcriptions of Philippine languages (anim, pito, kamatis, kilo, boy, sarong), English (boxing; the words ultimatum, Asia, OK, and King Kong, and bye-bye appear in their original romanized form in the text), and Spanish (chiquito). Although Bai Ren is careful to provide parenthetical translations of these verbal transcriptions, there are some words that remain untranslated, as when Chen Shan at one point lets lose the invective putang-ina.

   2007, Bai Ren 白刃, translated by Joaquin Sy 施華謹, Lagalag sa Nanyang 南洋漂流記 (Nanyang Piaoliuji), Diliman, Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, →ISBN

   Synonyms: towkay, boss, sir, ma'am