Singlish
/ˈsɪŋ.lɪʃ/noun
Singlish is spelled S-I-N-G-L-I-S-H: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 130,282nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, Singlish means “A highly colloquial or basilectal variety of Singapore English incorporating much Hokkien and Malay lexis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Singlish?
| Letters | 8: S-I-N-G-L-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 130,282nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Singlish?
Singlish appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 130,282nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Singlish?
- /ˈsɪŋ.lɪʃ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Singlish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A highly colloquial or basilectal variety of Singapore English incorporating much Hokkien and Malay lexis.
- 2
Any of various varieties of English spoken in Sri Lanka.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Singlish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense English-based creole used in Singapore:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | singlish |
| German | Singlish |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does Singlish come from?
Blend of Singaporean + English.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).