Chinese
cheongsam long, tight-fitting dress with slit sides
feng shui ‘wind and water’: a system of good and bad influences in the environment and correct alignment with nature
foh t’ung bonfire tree. Family: Sterculiaceae (Cacao family) Species: Sterculia (syn. Firmiana) colorata
Goo K’a Gurkha
gwai lo foreigner, ‘devil person’
ham sap kwai salty-wet devil, randy
Min Yuen Masses Movement: pro-Communist civilians who provided food, shelter, information etc to the Communist Terrorists
seong wai captain
sinsaang ‘elder born’, sir
wai hello
Hindi
bidi crude cigarette rolled in a leaf
ji polite suffix
Malay (1950s spelling, pre-standardisation)
bukit hill
gunong mountain
inche mister, a polite salutation
jalan road
siapa chekup? who’s speaking
tuan sir
Nepali
Cheena Chinese
daku guerilla, (from ‘dacoit)
gora ‘fair-skinned’: when used in a military sense, the meaning was ‘British Other Rank’. If used referring to an officer, it implied that the Gurkhas felt that that the officer did not merit officer status
jasus spy
ningalo a small type of bamboo, Arundinaria intermedia
ustad non-commissioned officer, instructor
Others
basha temporary night shelter
Force 136 secret force, part of which went to Malaya during WWII
gloire glory (French)
maskirovka trick, cover plan (Russian)
vlasti elite (Russian)
wala person