kongsi

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Min Nan (Hokkien) 公司 (kong-si, “clan hall”).

Noun

kongsi (plural kongsis or kongsi)

1. A benevolent organization of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities for individuals with the same surname.
   • 1998, Zawawi Ibrahim, The Malay Labourer

     By 1970, for instance, the state authorities considered these kongsi to be unfit and unhygienic for living, and they were ordered to be dismantled.

   • 2003, Wu Xiao An, Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882-1941

     The term kongsi loosely referred to any association of the Chinese, ranging from a business partnership to governments in West Borneo, secret societies and clan associations.

   • 2004, Simon Richmond, Marie Cambon, Damian Harper, Richard Watkins, Lonely Planet: Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

     A kongsi is a clan house, a building that’s partly a temple and partly a meeting hall for Chinese of the same clan or surname.