Meaning of kiasu | Babel Free

Definitions

Afraid to lose out, particularly because one is overly competitive.

Singapore, colloquial, derogatory, mildly

Examples

“No wonder the parents acted that way, she said. They were just being kia-su (afraid to lose out).”

“The kia-si/kia-su ("afraid to die/afraid to lose") attitude of the Totalisator Boards in Malaysia and Singapore is deplorable.”

“We often see a bus with commuters practically spilling out of the front door and crowding at the exit door. But beyond that, a vacuum prevails, says a reader. The kia-su attitude is the reason for this, says the reader, and most of the culprits are students from secondary schools and junior colleges.”

“The story now going around is that the distributors of Suzuki cars will take over the failed distributorship of Korea's Kia cars. According to one wag, the new distributorship could call itself "Kia-Su Motors". For the uninitiated, kiasu means "afraid to lose" in the Hokkien dialect.”

“No lubang, so teruk. Kiasu cannot lose, / Kiasi cannot die; machiam machiam words / We also try. Proper English? So lecheh, / So correct, so actsy for what? […]”

“Too often you hear about Singaporeans with the "K syndrome", meaning kiasu (afraid of losing out), kiasi (afraid of dying), kiabor (afraid of wife). […] So, Singaporeans, don't conform to what society labels you to be. Be kiasu in making a difference!”

“Shell's FuelSave saw Singaporeans' kiasu spirit come to the fore. I noted that most vehicles in the queue had their engines in idle and air-conditioners on, hence releasing air pollutants.”

CEFR level