yan dao

Singapore[ˌjɛn˨ ˈt˭aʊ˨˦]

noun

Handsome, pretty boy.

OriginHokkien 緣投 /缘投 →
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Meanings

noun
  1. SingaporeSinglishHandsome, pretty boy.
adjectiveyan dao (not comparable)
  1. SingaporeSinglishnot comparableHandsome, stylish.

    And WP candidate Bernard Chen, who was making the rounds with Mr Low, won himself an auntie fan who declared: “Yan dao (handsome in Hokkien) leh”.

    2015 September 5, Ong Sor Fern, “GE2015: 7 Things Spotted On The Campaign Trail, Sept 5 edition”, in The Straits Times, Singapore

Origin

  1. Hokkien緣投 /缘投“handsome”
  2. Englishyan dao

Borrowed from Hokkien 緣投 /缘投 (iân-tâu, “handsome”); spelling influenced by Mandarin's Hanyu Pinyin romanization. Compare Tagalog yantaw.

More words from Hokkien

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

yan dao. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yan%20dao

MLA

“yan dao.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yan%20dao. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yan dao,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yan%20dao.

Source: yan dao on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.