with Cantonese because of their continuous contact with each other. Like Cantonese, Teochew has a great deal of monosyllabic words. However, ever since the standardisation of Modern Standard Chinese, Teochew has absorbed a lot of Putonghua vocabulary, which is predominantly polysyllabic. Also, Teochew varieties in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have also borrowed extensively from Malay. Archaic vocabulary Teochew and other Southern Min varieties, such as Hokkien, preserve a good deal of Old Chinese vocabulary, such as [mak] eye (, Hokkien: 目 ba̍k), [ta] dry (, Hokkien: 焦 ta), and [kʰəŋ] hide (cf. ; Hokkien: 囥 khǹg). Romanisation Teochew was romanised by the Provincial Education Department of Guangdong in 1960 to aid linguistic studies and the publication of dictionaries, although Pe̍h-ūe-jī can also be used because Christian missionaries invented it for the transcription of varieties of Southern Min. Initials Initial consonants of Teochew, are represented in the Guangdong Romanization system as: B, BH, C, D, G, GH, H, K, L, M, N, NG, P, R, S, T, and Z. Examples: B - bag (北 north) Bh - bhê (馬 horse) C - cên (青 green), cǔi (嘴 mouth), ciên (槍 gun) D - diê (潮 tide) G - giê (橋 bridge) GH - gho (鵝 goose) H - hung (雲 cloud) K - ke (去 to go) L - lag (六 six) M - mêng (明 bright) N - nang (人 person) NG - ngou (五 five) P - peng (平 peace) R - riêg/ruah (熱 hot) S - sên (生 to be born) T - tin (天 sky) Z - ziu (州 region/state) Finals Vowels Vowels and vowel combinations in the Teochew dialect include: A, E, Ê, I, O, U, AI, AO, IA, IAO, IO, IU, OI, OU, UA, UAI, UE, and UI. Examples: A - ma (媽 mother) E - de (箸 chopsticks) Ê - sên (生 to be born) I - bhi (味 smell/taste) O - to (桃 peach) U - ghu (牛 cow) Many words in Teochew are nasalized. This is represented by the letter "n" in the Guangdong Pengim system. Example (nasalized): suan (山 mountain) cên (青 green) Ending Ending consonants in Teochew include M and NG as well as the stops discussed below. Examples: M - iam (鹽 salt) NG - bhuang (萬 ten thousand) Teochew retains many consonant stops lost in Mandarin. These stops include a labial stop: "b"; velar stop: "g"; and glottal