taoke

/ˈt̪ʰaʊ̯.kɛ/

taoke means boss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss).

taoke is pronounced /ˈt̪ʰaʊ̯.kɛ/.

Etymology

Borrowed from Hokkien 頭家 /头家 (thâu-ke, “boss”). Doublet of towkay. Compare Tagalog taoke, Tausug tawki, Malay tauke, Indonesian tauke, Burmese ထောင်ကဲ (htaungkai:), Puyuma tawki, Rukai tawki, Sakizaya tawki.

noun

boss; owner (of a business entity such as shop, etc.); shop owner; shopkeeper; business owner; employer (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)
term of address for a business owner boss (especially a Chinese Filipino boss)

Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).