Preserving Hokkien in written form

[niuc]

We use both 短褲 ter2-kho`3 and 內褲 lai7-kho`3 for underwear. We never say 底褲 tue2-kho`3. It's true that 短褲 ter2-kho`3 can also mean short pants, for clarity we say 短的褲 ter2 e5-kho`3.

短 lit. tuan2, col. te2 (E-mng), ter3 (Tang-ua*,Cuanciu)
底 lit. ti2, col. tue2 (E-mng, Tang-ua*), tye2=twe2 (Cuanciu)

[hong]

two comments,
Khai-si for start is not chinese but japanese loan word as mentioned by Mr.Ong from Taiwan.It should be chhim-thau,chhann,etc in minnan.

Just curious... what are the Hanzi for "chhim-thau" and "chhann"? I would like to look them up in 康熙.

Since 開始 is a Japanese loan word, does it mean that the Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.) borrowed it from Japanese, and it is now part of putonghua?

I just read an article by Prof.Zhang who mention in his 漳平 article(a language very close to minnan)only started using 开始 since 50 years ago.They use 起头 for start.We can find 起头 in minnan dict as well.
So the standard is 起头 ki tau
chhann7 is just do not start in some dict

[hong]

Ou course we just say 起 khi instead of 起頭 especially in question.
to 一日起﹖