Tafkao
Usage Note
Tvafkao was one of the earliest names of Kaohsiung (高雄 KQhioong), formerly called "Takao", meaning "to beat a dog".
Founded near the end of the Ming Dynasty (Bengtiaau) in the 17th century, the village was known as Tvafkao in the Hoklo language (Høxlør-oe) spoken by most of the early immigrants. The name originates from the Makatao language of the local aboriginal tribe and translates as "bamboo forest".
In 1895, Taiwan was ceded to Japan as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was during this period that the city’s name was changed from Tvafkao to Takao (高雄 たかお Taka-o, Japanese kanji meaning "High Hero"). After control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China in 1945, the official romanization of the city name came to be “Kaohsiung”, based on the Wade-Giles romanization of the Standard Mandarin reading of the kanji name.