Naming What We Eat: Food and Beverages Names in the Context of Singapore Hawker Centres

Despite efforts to document the heritage and significance of Singapore's hawker centres, the names of the food and beverages served at these establishments often go unnoticed. This study critically examines various etymological claims by analyzing evidence from multiple disciplines, including synchronic and diachronic linguistics, history, culture, food science, social science, and Singapore studies. The analysis reveals that etymologies are more reliable when they align with the language ecology of Singapore, both at the national and hawker centre levels, as well as with linguistic characteristics of the proposed language of origin and established facts from the other related disciplines. Ultimately, the study shows that the naming processes in Singapore are heavily influenced by visual associations.