From Takow to Kaohsiung

Cuo (厝) and Wu (屋) "Houses"

Cuo (厝; Hoklo-Taiwanese tsu) originally referred to a homestead or main family home on a piece of land newly cleared for farming. These, often later developed into hamlets, villages and even towns, so that today “cuo” is a common second character in place names, often preceded by a family or clan name.

Examples include Pengcuo (彭厝; “Peng’s House”) in Taipei, Wucuo (吳厝; “Wu’s House”) in Taichung, and Liucuo (劉厝; “Liu’s House”) in Kaohsiung.

Wu (屋; Hakka vuk) has a similar function, appearing in such places as Luwu (呂屋; “Lu’s House”) in Taoyuan, Shenwu (沈屋; “Shen’s House”) in Hsinchu and Zhengwu (鄧屋; “Zheng’s House”) in Miaoli County.

As Professor Lay Jinn-guey (賴進貴) of the Department of Geography at NTU notes*, 厝 is more common in Hoklo-speaking areas, while 屋 is common in Hakka areas (primarily Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli).

Similarly, Abe Akiyoshi (安倍 明義) notes in 台灣地名研究 (Studies on Taiwan's Place Names; 1938) that the 壢 (Mdn. li; Hakka lak) of Zhongli (中壢) in Taoyuan is typically equivalent to 坑 (Mdn. keng; Hoklo <>khiⁿ; meaning “pit / gorge”), such as in New Taipei City’s Shenkeng (深坑).

Copyright Jiyue Publications, 2021

* National Geographic, 2017