綠衣

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some! Particularly: “Taishanese”

綠衣

1. (historical, Hong Kong and overseas Cantonese, including American (–1980), Australia) policeman; (American (–1980) Cantonese) immigration official

   ABCD，大頭綠衣，追賊唔到，吹BB！ [Cantonese, trad.]
   ABCD，大头绿衣，追贼唔到，吹BB！ [Cantonese, simp.]

   ei¹ bi¹ si¹ di¹, daai⁶ tau⁴ luk⁶ ji¹, zeoi¹ caak⁶ m⁴ dou^3-2, ceoi¹ bi¹ bi¹!

   A-B-C-D, policeman in a turban; when he can't catch the criminal, he blows his whistle!

   • 1861 October 13 (辛酉九月初十日), 帖告, 恩開甯三邑公所

     即呌綠衣将陳梅二姓人両個捉送衙門 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     即叫绿衣将陈梅二姓人两个捉送衙门 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     zik¹ giu³ luk⁶ ji¹ zoeng¹ can⁴ mui⁴ ji⁶ sing³ jan⁴ loeng⁵ go³ zuk¹ sung³ ngaa⁴ mun⁴

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 1907, James Dyer Ball, Cantonese Made Easy‎:

     「差人（差役、綠衣）到嗎？」 [Cantonese, trad.]
     「差人（差役、绿衣）到吗？」 [Cantonese, simp.]

     “caai¹ jan⁴ (caai¹ jik⁶, luk⁶ ji¹) dou³ maa⁵?”

     "Has the policeman arrived?"

   • 2021, Myron Louie Lee, quoting Hazel Louie Lee, “Portland's Louie Chung (1876–1926)”, in Oregon Historical Quarterly (overall work in English), →DOI:

     " […] There, on the corner, that's where the luk yee [police] station was!"

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1999, Sarah Glasscock, Read-Aloud Plays: Immigration‎ (overall work in English):

     Once you convince the luk yi that you are my son and they let you into America, then you can go back to being who you really are.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2014, Gregory Jue, quoting Dr. Thomas Wu, “In Search of Ng Ping”, in Chinese America: History and Perspectives‎ (overall work in English):

     The law at that time was to bar Chinese from coming and if there's any way that they can bar Chinese they would do it. Liver fluke worm is one thing, alleged paper is another thing, and then people talk about luk yee. Well, what is luk yee? Those are the immigration officials that come to arrest Chinese and after the luk yee come, we don't see the Chinese person anymore. That's why we always call, "Luk yee! Luk yee!" It's not because of police department. It's the immigration officials that wears the green garments and come to arrest us. Those are the luk yee … Those are the disclosures we used when we were young.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. postman
3. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Lorraine Dong, Marlon K. Hom (1980) “Chinatown Chinese: The San Francisco Dialect”, in Amerasia‎: “For instance, 綠衣／绿衣 (lǜyī) (CC) luhk-yi is a policeman in America, but to a person from Hong Kong or Taiwan, it would be a postman.”
• Frank Chin (1998) Bulletproof Buddhists and Other Essays‎: “And luk yee for policeman is from Hong Kong because the police there wear green, right?”