gao lak

English

Alternative forms

• gao luk, gau lak, gau luk

Etymology

• Teochew 侯栗 (gau7 lag8, “chestnut”).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /ɡɑʊ ˈlʌk/

Noun

gao lak (uncountable)

1. (Asia) Roasted chestnuts.
   • 2003 June 4, soc.culture.singapore‎^[1] (Usenet):

     The economy now had a wide range of jobs, and society here welcomed a broad spectrum of ideas."........ get ready to sell gao lak/chestnuts for a living, maybe that's what he means.... :P

   • 2004 February 3, soc.culture.singapore‎^[2] (Usenet):

     I saw in the papers that there was this graduate frying "gao luk".

   • 2017 August 20, Lee Min Kok, “PM Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech: All you need to know in 3 minutes”, in The Straits Times‎^[3]:

     In China, even buying gao lak or chestnuts from a street vendor is done via e-payment methods such as WeChat Pay and AliPay. This is one area Singapore is lagging behind, PM Lee noted.

   • 2015 April 14, Natalie Koh, “17 Nostalgic Street Snacks in Singapore that Bring Tears to Our Eyes”, in Tripzilla:Make it happen‎^[4]:

     Chestnuts roasted on wooden pushcarts. Gao lak probably fell out of fashion when littering laws came into effect and tossing the chestnut shells behind you as you walk would earn you a fine.

   • 2007 March 9, “'No more sweet potato boy – SgForums.com (Singapore)”, in SGFORUMS‎^[5]:

     Kuali Baba: Today as I walked passed the gao lak seller, I almost thought I heard him chanting that.

Usage notes

Common in spoken colloquial language.

Related terms

• chestnut
• 栗子