A major Sinitic language of southeastern Fujian and the Chinese diaspora — known to its speakers as Hokkien, Hoklo, or Taiwanese.
Where it’s spoken
Min Nan is the dominant Chinese variety of southern Fujian, Taiwan (where it’s called Taiwanese), and much of the southern Chinese diaspora in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin or Cantonese.
What it sounds like
Min Nan preserves features of older Chinese that Mandarin has lost — including a richer tonal system (typically 7 or 8 tones depending on dialect) and consonant clusters in the syllable coda. A two-layered literary/colloquial reading distinction exists for most characters.
How it’s written
Standard Chinese characters work but cover only part of the vocabulary; speakers in Taiwan use either character-only writing or the Latin-based Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) romanisation introduced by missionaries in the 19th century.
Find more languages by letter
Min Nan starts with M and ends with N. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Min Nan":