事頭婆

See also: 事头婆

Chinese

		(Cantonese) boss; store manager; master (Cantonese) boss; store manager; master; owner	grandmother; matron; mother-in-law
trad. (事頭婆)		事頭	婆
simp. (事头婆)		事头	婆
alternative forms		士頭婆／士头婆

Etymology

“queen of England”

Originated from slang among civil servants in Hong Kong. Nominally, the queen was their head during British rule.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): si⁶ tau⁴ po⁴ / si⁶ tau⁴ po^4-2

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): lhu⁵ heu³ po^3-4

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: si⁶ tau⁴ po⁴ / si⁶ tau⁴ po^4-2
    • Yale: sih tàuh pòh / sih tàuh pó
    • Cantonese Pinyin: si⁶ tau⁴ po⁴ / si⁶ tau⁴ po^4-2
    • Guangdong Romanization: xi⁶ teo⁴ po⁴ / xi⁶ teo⁴ po^4-2
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siː²² tʰɐu̯²¹ pʰɔː²¹/, /siː²² tʰɐu̯²¹ pʰɔː²¹⁻³⁵/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: lhu⁵ heu³ po^3-4
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɬu³² heu²² pʰᵘɔ²²⁻²¹/

Noun

事頭婆

1. (Cantonese) proprietress; boss's wife; female boss
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, informal) Queen of England, especially Elizabeth II

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 老闆娘 (“proprietress”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		老闆娘
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	老闆娘
	Taiwan	老闆娘
	Harbin	老闆娘
	Singapore	老闆娘
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	老闆娘
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	老闆娘
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	內掌櫃, 掌櫃婆兒
	Xi'an	老闆娘, 掌櫃娘子 dated, face-to-face, 掌櫃婆娘 dated, non-face-to-face
	Xuzhou	老闆娘, 老闆娘子, 掌櫃娘子
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	老闆娘
	Ürümqi	老闆娘
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	老闆娘, 老闆兒娘
	Guiyang	老闆娘
	Liuzhou	老闆娘
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	老闆娘
	Yangzhou	老闆奶奶
Cantonese	Guangzhou	事頭婆, 老闆娘
	Hong Kong	事頭婆, 老闆娘
	Taishan	事頭婆
	Yangjiang	老闆娘, 事頭婆
	Singapore (Guangfu)	事頭婆
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	老細婆
Gan	Nanchang	老闆娘, 老闆娘子
	Lichuan	老闆娘, 老闆娘子
	Pingxiang	老闆娘子
Hakka	Meixian	老闆娘
	Yudu	老闆娘
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	頭家娘
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	頭家娘
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	頭家娘
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	頭家娘
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	頭家娘
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	頭家娘
Jin	Taiyuan	老闆娘, 女掌櫃, 女掌櫃的
	Xinzhou	老闆娘
Northern Min	Jian'ou	老闆嫂
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	老闆嫂
Southern Min	Xiamen	頭家娘
	Quanzhou	頭家娘
	Zhangzhou	頭家娘
	Taipei	頭家娘
	Kaohsiung	頭家娘
	Penang (Hokkien)	頭家娘, 頭家嫂
	Singapore (Hokkien)	頭家娘
	Manila (Hokkien)	頭家娘
	Singapore (Teochew)	頭家娘
	Leizhou	老闆娘
	Haikou	老闆娘
	Singapore (Hainanese)	頭家娘
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	老闆婆
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	老闆娘, 老闆婆 non-face-to-face
Wu	Shanghai	老闆娘, 老闆娘娘
	Shanghai (Chongming)	老闆娘
	Suzhou	老闆娘
	Danyang	老闆娘, 老闆嫚嫚
	Hangzhou	老闆娘
	Ningbo	老闆娘
	Wenzhou	老闆娘
	Jinhua	老闆兒娘
Xiang	Changsha	老闆娘
	Loudi	老闆娘, 老闆娘子