看覓

Chinese

		to see; to look at; to look after to see; to look at; to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard; it depends; think	seek
trad. (看覓)		看	覓
simp. (看觅)		看	觅
alternative forms		看𥌚

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): khòaⁿ-bāi / khòaⁿ-māi

---

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khòaⁿ-bāi
    • Tâi-lô: khuànn-bāi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qvoarbai
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kʰuã²¹⁻⁵³ bai²²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰuã⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ bai⁴¹/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese, Singapore, Philippines)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khòaⁿ-māi
    • Tâi-lô: khuànn-māi
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qvoarmai
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰuã²¹⁻⁵³ mãi²²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰuã²¹⁻⁴¹ mãi³³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰuã¹¹⁻⁵³ mãi³³/
    • IPA (Philippines): /kʰuã⁴¹⁻⁵⁵⁴ mai⁴¹/
    • IPA (Singapore): /kʰuã²¹⁻⁴² mai²²/

Verb

看覓

1. (Hokkien) to take a look
2. (Hokkien) to try (used after a verb)

   食看覓／食看觅 [Taiwanese Hokkien]  ―  chia̍h khòaⁿ-māi [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to give it a taste

   試看覓／试看觅 [Taiwanese Hokkien]  ―  chhì khòaⁿ-māi [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to give it a try

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 一下 (“give something a go; give something a try”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		一下
Mandarin	Taiwan	一下, 看看
	Malaysia	一下
	Singapore	一下
Cantonese	Guangzhou	下
	Hong Kong	下
	Macau	下
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	下
	Singapore (Guangfu)	下
Southern Min	Xiamen	看覓
	Quanzhou	看覓
	Zhangzhou	看覓
	Taipei	看覓
	Kaohsiung	看覓
	Penang (Hokkien)	看覓
	Singapore (Hokkien)	看覓, 一下
	Manila (Hokkien)	覓, 看覓, 一下
	Chaozhou	睇, 下睇
	Shantou	一下
	Singapore (Teochew)	睇
Wu	Shanghai	看, 一記, 一下 often with non-monosyllabic verbs
	Suzhou	看, 一下
	Ningbo	看

Further reading

• “Entry #5361”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.