"calefare" meaning in All languages combined

See calefare on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈkɛlɛfɛː/ [Singapore], /ˈkɛləfɛː/ [Singapore]
Etymology: Originally from Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”), a loanword from English carefree. Popularized by the 2008 comedy series of the same name. Etymology templates: {{sup|1}} ¹, {{sup|1}} ¹, {{sup|1}} ¹, {{bor|en|yue-HK|茄哩啡|t=extra; background actor|tr=ke¹ le¹ fe¹}} Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”), {{der|en|en|carefree}} English carefree Head templates: {{en-noun|?}} calefare
  1. (Singapore, slang) An extra (actor playing a minor role) Tags: Singapore, slang
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yue-HK",
        "3": "茄哩啡",
        "t": "extra; background actor",
        "tr": "ke¹ le¹ fe¹"
      },
      "expansion": "Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "carefree"
      },
      "expansion": "English carefree",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Originally from Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”), a loanword from English carefree.\nPopularized by the 2008 comedy series of the same name.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "calefare",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms borrowed back into English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singapore English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singlish",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017, Caroline Lim Seow Ling, quoting No. 011, Beyond firm-customer interactions to better customer experience, Singapore Management University, page 185:",
          "text": "I took on all kinds of odd jobs like sales promoter, counter staff, calefare, anything that pays.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Lim Leng San, quotee, edited by Justina Teo, Befriending Conversations: 20 Seniors, 20 Occupations, 20 Stories, Candid Creation Publishing LLP, →ISBN, page 65:",
          "text": "Yes, I was a calefare in some TV dramas as well as stage plays.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              74
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023, Pauline Loh, Lion and Dragon Dance in Singapore, Singapore: World Scientific, pages 139–140:",
          "text": "This makes the doll sound like some kind of traffic controller, a calefare add-on to the main show that is the dragon or the lion.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An extra (actor playing a minor role)"
      ],
      "id": "en-calefare-en-noun--pcQ3s3a",
      "links": [
        [
          "extra",
          "extra"
        ],
        [
          "actor",
          "actor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, slang) An extra (actor playing a minor role)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɛlɛfɛː/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɛləfɛː/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "calefare"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yue-HK",
        "3": "茄哩啡",
        "t": "extra; background actor",
        "tr": "ke¹ le¹ fe¹"
      },
      "expansion": "Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "carefree"
      },
      "expansion": "English carefree",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Originally from Hong Kong Cantonese 茄哩啡 (ke¹ le¹ fe¹, “extra; background actor”), a loanword from English carefree.\nPopularized by the 2008 comedy series of the same name.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "calefare",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
        "English slang",
        "English terms borrowed back into English",
        "English terms borrowed from Hong Kong Cantonese",
        "English terms derived from Hong Kong Cantonese",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Singapore English",
        "Singlish"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017, Caroline Lim Seow Ling, quoting No. 011, Beyond firm-customer interactions to better customer experience, Singapore Management University, page 185:",
          "text": "I took on all kinds of odd jobs like sales promoter, counter staff, calefare, anything that pays.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              21
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Lim Leng San, quotee, edited by Justina Teo, Befriending Conversations: 20 Seniors, 20 Occupations, 20 Stories, Candid Creation Publishing LLP, →ISBN, page 65:",
          "text": "Yes, I was a calefare in some TV dramas as well as stage plays.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              74
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023, Pauline Loh, Lion and Dragon Dance in Singapore, Singapore: World Scientific, pages 139–140:",
          "text": "This makes the doll sound like some kind of traffic controller, a calefare add-on to the main show that is the dragon or the lion.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An extra (actor playing a minor role)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "extra",
          "extra"
        ],
        [
          "actor",
          "actor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, slang) An extra (actor playing a minor role)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɛlɛfɛː/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɛləfɛː/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "calefare"
}

Download raw JSONL data for calefare meaning in All languages combined (2.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-04-01 using wiktextract (7de0cf9 and 9452535). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.