Macanese

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Of or relating to Macau, its culture, or its people ; a person of mixed Portuguese and Chinese heritage from Macau ; the creole language built on Portuguese with Cantonese and Malay influences
2. Describing something connected with the Chinese city of Macau and its distinct heritage ; someone whose ancestry traces to Macau's Portuguese and Asian community ; the Portuguese-based creole spoken historically in Macau
3. Belonging to or characteristic of Macau and its blended Portuguese-Asian culture ; a member of the community of mixed Portuguese and Asian descent from Macau ; the local creole language that grew out of Portuguese contact in Macau

Etymology: Macanese is formed from "Macau," the Portuguese spelling of the place name, plus the suffix "-ese," which English took from Italian and Old French to mean "of a place or nation," as in Portuguese and Chinese. The place name is generally traced to A-Ma, the Cantonese name of a seaside temple dedicated to the goddess Mazu, which Portuguese traders heard and turned into "Macau." The term describes the people, culture and language of this small port territory at the mouth of the Pearl River. The Macanese community grew from marriages between Portuguese men and local Asian women, and its traditional language, a Portuguese-based creole called Patuá, absorbed vocabulary from Cantonese, Malay and other Asian languages.