Singaporean Mandarin Database

This database contains a collection of Mandarin terms which have cultural, historical or sentimental value unique to Singapore. These terms may be used by Singaporeans in the past or at present. Some of the terms are read in print while others are used in our everyday conversations.

Quick Links

A - Z pinyin listing Category listing About us Relevant links

A - Z PINYIN LISTING

Sort by:

财

cái

副

fù

clerk

社会

Social

Share via

clerk

Share via

社会

Social

释义

名词

早期南洋华人社会对书记文员的称呼，也称财傅、财库。

DEFINITION

Noun

A name for clerk in the early Nanyang Chinese society. Also known in Mandarin as “财傅” or “财库”.

由来

源自福建话（闽南话）。
最初，财副指的是在从福建下南洋的贸易船上，负责记账、理财和货物进出的文员。
后来，这些来自福建的随船人员留在南洋，自然地把他们在船上的习惯用语应用在社会里。因此，他们便称理财记账的书记为财副。
在旧时的社会，很多华人认为财副是一份高尚的工作，所以都想从事这一行。
当时社会上有两种财副，分别是 “唐人财副”（一般指使用华语，在华人公司协助记账理财的人）和 “红毛财副”（一般指通晓英语，为英殖民政府服务的公务员）。

ETYMOLOGY

The term “财副” originated from the Hokkien term zai hu.
In the beginning, “财副” was used to refer to clerks in charge of book-keeping, financial management and the turnover of goods on trading ships that sailed from Fujian to Nanyang.
Later, the people who came from Fujian on ships stayed in Nanyang, and they continued using words they habitually used on the ships in their social life. Thus, they called the “clerks” in charge of financial management and book-keeping “财副”.
In the olden days, the occupation of "财副" was highly sought-after as many Chinese people saw it as a dignified job.
There were two kinds of clerks in society at that time, namely the “唐人财副” (literally Chinese zai hu, referring generally to people who spoke Mandarin and helped out in accounting and financial management in Chinese companies), and the “红毛财副” (literally ang moh zai hu, referring generally to civil servants who were proficient in English and served the British colonial government).

例句

我们那个年代，没有读大学，只能当一名小职员，我在建屋局从小 “财副”（福建话，即办公室文员）做起，做到今天的老 “财副”。(《联合早报》， 20/12/2017）

SAMPLE SENTENCE

During those times, those who did not go to university could only be appointed a low position at work. I started off as a junior zai hu (a Hokkien word meaning “office clerk”) at the Housing and Development Board, until I became a senior clerk today. (Lianhe Zaobao, 20/12/2017)