Singaporean

English

WOTD – 9 August 2025

Etymology

Singaporean national flags (adjective sense 1) installed in celebration of the nation’s National Day on 9 August 2014.
A 1920s photograph of Yusof Ishak, a Singaporean (noun sense 1) who was a civil servant and later became the first President of Singapore.

From Singapore (“island and city-state in Southeast Asia”) +‎ -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns).[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /sɪŋ.(ɡ)əˈpɔː.ɹi.ən/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌsɪŋ.(ɡ)əˈpo.ɹi.ən/
  • Audio (General American); /ˌsɪŋ.ɡəˈpo.ɹi.ən/:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹiən
  • Hyphenation: Sin‧ga‧po‧re‧an

Adjective

Singaporean (comparative more Singaporean, superlative most Singaporean)

  2. Of, pertaining to, or from Singapore, or its language or people.
    Synonym: (abbreviation) S'porean
    • 1843 November 15 (date written), “a sportsman” [pseudonym], “Correspondence”, in [William Napier], editor, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, volume 8, no. 46, number CCCCXXV, Singapore: […] G. M. Frederick at the Singapore Free Press Office, […], published 16 November 1843, →OCLC, page 3, column 1:
      About mid-day, yesterday, intelligence was received [in?] Town that a Tiger had been kidnapped about three miles out in the Country, or jungle, […] No sooner had the news spread abroad than Offices and high stools were abandoned and such a furbishing up of rusty fire arms took place as had not been witnessed since the foundation of the City. Any one ignorant of the cause might have supposed from the long array of armed hack palankeen carriages that some unknown enemy had landed in the back settlements of Bukit Timah and that nothing but the flower of Singaporean chivalry could serve to stem the torrent of invasion.
    • 1880, F[rederick] W[illiam] Burbidge, “Singapore”, in The Gardens of the Sun: Or A Naturalist’s Journal on the Mountains and in the Forests and Swamps of Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 18:
      In Singaporean gardens the rarest of moth orchids are planted in cocoanut-shells and hung from the verandahs, or placed on the mango or orange trees on the lawn, where they soon establish themselves. How many English orchid amateurs would wish for such a genial clime.
    • 2020, Chan Joon Yee, “What Do I Eat?”, in Not Quite over the Hill: Swinging My Way to 60 and beyond, [S.l.]: Dewdrop Books:
      Below is an example of a typical Singaporean "bento", often wolfed down next to the computer. It's prepared from lots of lousy cooking oil, preserved vegetables, soggy low-quality rice and omelette with more air and oil than egg inside.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Singaporean (plural Singaporeans)

  2. A person from Singapore, or descended from such a person.
    Synonym: (abbreviation) S'porean
    • 1837 December 28, “Report [of the Singapore Free Schools]”, in Singapore Institution Free School. Fourth Annual Report. 1837–38. […], Singapore: […] Singapore Free Press Office, published 1838, →OCLC, page 6:
      [T]he second place was warmly contested by a lad from Macao and a Singaporean, and after a separate examination in History, Astronomy and Geography, in which some very difficult questions were put by the examiners generally, assisted by Dr. [William] Montgomerie—it was decided in favour of the former.
      Quoted from the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (28 December 1837).
    • 1846, G. F. Davidson, “Singapore”, in Trade and Travel in the Far East; or Recollections of Twenty-one Years Passed in Java, Singapore, Australia, and China, London: Madden and Malcolm, […], →OCLC, page 43:
      A great deal has been done for Singapore by gangs of convicts from Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, who, under an experienced and able superintendent, have cut and made excellent roads, that now extend east, west, north, and south, for several miles. […] [T]hey [the roads] also add much to the enjoyment of the Singaporean, by enabling him to extend his ride or drive of an evening.
    • 1872 October, S. T., “Foreign Items”, in Samuel J[ones] Smith, editor, The Siam Repository, Containing a Summary of Asiatic Intelligence, volume 4, number 4, Bangkok: S. J. Smith’s place, →OCLC, page 394, column 2:
      We beg to call the attention of the community to a most interesting book which is proposed to be published by Mr. J[ohn] Thomson, F.R.G.S., who is an old Singaporean and who will be known to many here by his account and photographs of the lost cities of Cambodia.
    • 1996 June 23, Magdalene Lum, “40 good years dishing up chilli crabs”, in The Sunday Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings, →OCLC, Sunday Plus section, page 5, column 1:
      Many Singaporeans have fond memories of eating chilli crabs and cockles at its Upper East Coast Road premises, not far from the old Bedok Road, as recently as the early '80s.
    • 1997 January 20, Ser Meng Tay, “Singapore: A nation in denial? [letter]”, in Stephen B. Shepard, editor, BusinessWeek, Asian edition, New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 2:
      I am a Singaporean, and I lived on the island for 20 years before coming to the United States for my college education.
    • 2009, Beatrice Batnag Donofrio, Lawrence Wheeler, 1000+ Indigenous Tasty Cu[i]sine of 23 Asian Countries, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 565:
      Chili Crabs or Lobster: This is a popular dish amongst Singaporeans. It is also a common feature in the menus of famous seafood restaurants (along East Coast and Punggol).

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “Singaporean, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “Singaporean, adj. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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