Huan-a (Chinese: 番仔; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoan-á) is a Hokkien-language term used by Hokkien speakers in multiple countries, namely mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, etc.
In Taiwan, the aboriginal group Hoanya retains an older form of the word, where the second syllable retained the obsolete diminutive suffix, 仔; (iá), in Hokkien, which originally came from a weak form of 囝; (kiáⁿ, káⁿ) and today survives in Hokkien as the diminutive suffix, 仔; (á).
[2] Over the centuries, it also varyingly took on derogatory connotations depending on how each Hokkien-speaking community perceived non-Chinese or natives, such as the derogatory taboo status of the term in Taiwan in reference to Taiwanese aboriginal groups in general[3] or to any unreasonable persons,[4] although the word has varying connotations in other Hokkien-speaking communities, such as in Fujian (mainland China),[5] the Philippines,[1][6] Malaysia,[7] Singapore,[7] and Indonesia.
[8] Hokkien speakers in mainland China, specifically in Southern Fujian, such as in Amoy (Xiamen), Chuanchiu (Quanzhou), and Chiangchiu (Zhangzhou), use this term to refer to a foreigner or a westerner, especially those from Europe or the Americas.
[9] Historically in Taiwanese Hokkien, like their mainland counterparts, it was and still sometimes is meant to mean a foreigner or a westerner,[10] especially that of the Caucasian race group,[11] otherwise referred to as ang mo in other Hokkien-speaking regions.
[13] In 2019, Yang Meiling, an indigenous Taiwanese tour guide in Jialan, Taitung, used this term several times while leading a group of tourists visiting the Sky Trail (天空步道); she also called the locals "a lost tribe" (失落的部落).
[14] In 2023, a Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School student stirred controversy by naming a fair booth with the Mandarin phrase for sodium cyclopentadienide (Mandarin Chinese: 烯環鈉; pinyin: xīhuánnà; IPA: /ɕi˥ xu̯än˧˥ nä˥˩/), its pronunciation being homophonous to a Taiwanese Hokkien swear word meaning "dead aborigine" (Hokkien Chinese: 死番仔; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sí hoan-á; IPA: /ɕi˥˧ huan˧ a˥˧/).