Amoy

See also: amoy

English

Etymology

From Zhangzhou Hokkien 廈門／厦门 (Ēe-mûi).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈmɔɪ/, /ɑˈmɔɪ/, /æˈmɔɪ/, /ˈæmɔɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Proper noun

Amoy

1. (dated) Xiamen, a prefecture-level city and subprovincial city in Fujian, in southeastern China.
   • 1847, Robert Fortune, Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China: Including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries; with an Account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, Etc.‎^[1], 2nd edition, John Murray, Albemarle Street, page 23-24:

     Leaving Namoa, and sailing up the coast towards Amoy, the stranger is continually struck with the barren rocky nature of the coast, and in some parts has a view of hills of sand, the particles of which, when a hurricane blows, mix with the wind, and whiten the ropes of vessels and render it most unpleasant to be in the vicinity.

   • 1896, Charles J. H Halcombee, The Mystic Flowery Land: A Personal Narrative‎^[2], London: Luzac & Co., page 110:

     He told me of a place on the mainland, near his native village—some seventy miles up the coast, between Foochow and Amoy—where game was plentiful, and sportsmen rare.

   • 1925, Franck, Harry A., Roving Through Southern China‎^[3], The Century Company, OCLC 1036948, page 198:

     The tea grown in the southern Fukien hills goes out through Amoy; in a shallow bay on one side of town there stand out of the mud at low tide hundreds of upright granite blocks like Western tombstones, on which oysters are grown. But the only unique industry Amoy and its island seem to boast is the making of toy cats, dogs, lions, tigers, and even more fearsome beasts from mud gaudily painted, the heads and tails so balanced that they wag gravely back and forth.

   • 1934, David Edward Owen, British Opium Policy in China and India‎^[4], Yale University Press, OCLC 933002355, page 122; republished Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1968:

     The Merope stopped at Namoa, an island off the coast of Kwangtung and Fukien, where some small sales were made, and then, proceeding to Amoy, attempted to open trade relations there.

   • 1975 October 12, “Escapees from mainland plan wedding in Taipei”, in Free China Weekly‎^[5], volume XVI, number 40, Taipei, ISSN 0016-0318, OCLC 1786626, page 4:

     In February last year, he went to Amoy in Fukien Province on business. Amoy lies opposite Kinmen. One February day he swam to Kinmen and reached freedom. He has since worked for the General Political Warfare Department of the Ministry of National Defense.

   • 2013, Myanmar (Burma) (Insight Guides)‎^[6], →ISBN, OCLC 863608478, page 41:

     Aung San escaped by disguising himself as a Chinese crewman on a Norwegian boat. He arrived in Amoy seeking contact with Chinese communists to help in Burma's drive for independence.

2. The Jiulong River, a large river in southern Fujian, China.
3. the Amoy lect

Descendants

• Latin: amoyensis

Translations

Xiamen — see Xiamen

a Chinese lect

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 廈門話, 厦门话 (haa⁶ mun⁴ waa^6-2)

  Hakka: 廈門話, 厦门话 (Ha-mùn-fa)

  Mandarin: 廈門話, 厦门话 (xiàmén huà)

  Min Nan: 廈門話, 厦门话 (Ē-mn̂g-ōe, Ē-mûi-ōe)

• Japanese: アモイ語 (Amoi-go)
• Korean: 샤먼어 (Syameon-eo)

Further reading

• “Amoy” in the Collins English Dictionary
• “Amoy, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Amoy at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “Amoy”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
• “Amoy” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2022.

Anagrams

• Mayo, Moya, mayo, moya