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die liao

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Singapore/ˈdaɪ˦ ljaʊ˨˩/

die liao phrase: used to suggest that one is doomed, or as good as dead.

Phrase

die liao

  1. (Manglish, Singlish, excessive, intransitive) Used to suggest that one is doomed, or as good as dead.
    • […] the exam so hard, i die liao lah (that paper was tough as hell, i'm sure to flunk).2001 September 19, destrius', Everything2
    • dont join smrt lar.. with their frequent breakdowns, they are facing alot^([sic]) of scrutiny from the public, stakeholders and regulators. anything goes wrong n they need a scapegoat den u die liao.2014 September 2, Unregistered, “Engineer in SMRT”, in Salary.sg Forums, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2014
    Synonyms:
    die already, si liao
  2. (Manglish, Singlish, intransitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see die, liao.

Synonyms of die liao

Origin of die liao

die + liao (indicates a change of state), from Hokkien 了 (liáu) or Teochew 了 (liao²), with the tone of Mandarin 了 (liǎo). Partial calque of Hokkien 死了 (sí liáu).

Questions about die liao

What does die liao mean?
Die liao means used to suggest that one is doomed, or as good as dead.
What part of speech is die liao?
Die liao is a phrase.
How do you pronounce die liao?
Die liao is pronounced /ˈdaɪ˦ ljaʊ˨˩/ (Singapore).

Words near die liao in the dictionary

  1. die in the last ditch
  2. die just how one lived
  3. die just like one lived
  4. die just the way one lived
  5. die laughing
  6. die liao
  7. die like flies
  8. die like one lived
  9. die off
  10. die on
  11. die on one's arse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: die liao (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “die liao.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/die_liao. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.