If a Filipino isn’t sure of what the proper term is or he doesn’t want to utter a word (like ‘sex’), he uses kuwan.
uh, uhm, er…
ang kuwan
the thingie
I-kuwan mo.
Do the thing to it.
May kuwan.
There’s a whatchamacallit.
Sometimes simply spelled as kwan
Please allow me do the thing.
(~ sex)
This often gives rise to puns because the Tagalog word for “watermelon” is pakwan.
According to Corazon S. Alvina in the book Halupi and to Carl R. Galvez Rubino in his Tagalog dictionary, the Filipino word kuwan is a corruption of the Spanish ¿Cuál? meaning ‘Which?’
This etymology is also mentioned in Unitas (1962), in A Survey of Relations Between Indonesian, Malay and Some Philippine Languages (1968) by Dr. Septy Ruzui, and in Cahiers de linguistique: Asie orientale (1981) by Maurice Coyaud.
KAHULUGAN SA TAGALOG
kuwan: salitâng walang kahulugan, ginagamit kapag hindi masabi ang ibig sabihin
Wrong etymology. It’s from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kua (“whatchamacallit”), itself derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kuan (“to speak” or “to say”). It exists in other Austronesian languages, including Cebuano “kuan”, Ilocano “kwa”, Pangasinense “kuan”, Tausug “kuwan”, Mapun “kuan”. As well as non-Philippine cognates like Tontemoan “kuan”, Karo Batak “kuan-kuan-en”, Mentawai “kua”, and Makassarese “kua”.
Finally, I don’t know who manages this dictionary but it seems they really have no idea and just write whatever or basing it on folk etymology or random conclussions: “¿Cuál? and kuwan kinda look the same, therefore it must be Spanish.” Even the pronunciation guide is a mess, you don’t know if it’s using the English guide or Tagalog guide — who the hell uses for English ? English just uses , Tagalog would go with , I dunno about Spanish but its “j” has a different sound.
hello. may i ask if “kuwan” is also considered a tagalog word? i’ve been introduced to it as a cebuano word only. so i was schocked to see how tagalogs (if it is a word in tagalog) don’t usually use this word as much as cebuanos, and possibly other people who speak other dialects. it’s very sad for me that we have a word for a such contexts, and it wasn’t taught as it was by other linguistic groups. i suppose i feel that this is a missed oppurtunity for a more colorful language if it was also a tagalog wor, haha.
Yes it is. I have known about it here in Rizal (still as “standard” Manila Tagalog, not the different Morong dialect), but it is more used by older people. The Tagalogs in provinces use it more often afaik.
Also, this is common in other languages. Afaik, Ilokano has “kua”.
It also used in Waray not just only in Tagalog and Cebuano