Etymology and History
Meaning "prosperous harbour" in Chinese, Sengkang was derived from a small road called Lorong Sengkang, off Lorong Buangkok. Prior to this, the area was also known as Kangkar (Chinese: 港脚; pinyin: Gǎngjiǎo; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Káng-kha) or "foot of the port" as there was once a fishing port located along Sungei Serangoon. Fishing villages and rubber and pepper plantations flourished in the area in the old days.
Before the Sengkang New Town was built, vegetable and pig farms were located in the area, dominated by tropical rainforest. The only public housing estate then was the Punggol Rural Centre, comprising a few low-rise residential blocks, namely blocks 1-5, 206 and 207 located along Punggol Road. These blocks at the rural centre have since been demolished in 2005, to make way for future high-rise residential apartment blocks.
Due to Sengkang's meaning, many locations within Sengkang have names related to the sea such as Compass Point Shopping Centre, Anchorvale and Rivervale.
Read more about this topic: Sengkang
Famous quotes containing the words etymology and/or history:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)