• It is said that when the Chinese people from Fujian (Minnan) first met the Dutch, they started calling them ang mo (literally translated as red hair) as most of the Dutch had red hair. Subsequently, the term came to refer to Westerners in general. As Singapore was a British colony, ang mo became a term referring the British.

老外 (Mainland China), 阿啄仔 (Taiwan)

• As Singapore and the United Kingdom have close ties, ideas and things introduced to the local community by the British were commonly given the ang moassociation. British people were known as ang mo people, English-medium schools were known as ang mo schools, and the English-educated were considered the group who studied ang mo books, while speaking English was speaking the ang mo language.
• There is no derogatory association with using the term ang mo to refer to white people, and the Westerners living in Singapore liked to refer to themselves as ang mo as well. However, the term ang mo gui (red-haired ghost) is derogatory and should not be used.