Word.ws English Dictionary

hao siao

Syllables: hao·siao

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Philippines/haʊˈʃaʊ/

hao siao noun: pseudojournalists, not employed by a reputable news organization but who pass themselves off as journalists in order to cash in on the payoffs and bribes from news sources, particularly during elections.

Noun

hao siao

  1. (Philippines, derogatory) pseudojournalists, not employed by a reputable news organization but who pass themselves off as journalists in order to cash in on the payoffs and bribes from news sources, particularly during elections.
    • A Malacañang spokeswoman on Friday said the Bureau of Customs will not tolerate the involvement of media practitioners and "hao siao" (fake) journalists in smuggling, if true.2011 September 23, Willard Cheng, Palace: Customs won't tolerate 'hao siao' journalists, ABS-CBN News
    • On a list prepared by the BOC’s public information and assistance division and posted at the main Customs gate were the names of nearly 100 media people, including some said to be hao-siao.2013 June 4, Jerry E. Esplanada, Who’s ‘hao-siao’ or legit journalist? BOC confused, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Adjective

hao siao (comparative more hao siao, superlative most hao siao)

  1. (Philippines, colloquial, Chinese Filipino) bogus; phony; fake

Forms of hao siao

Noun
alternative formhao-siao
alternative formhaosiao
Adjective
comparativemore hao siao
superlativemost hao siao

Origin of hao siao

From Hokkien 嘐潲 (hau-siâu, “fake”). Compare Tagalog hawsiyaw.

Questions about hao siao

What does hao siao mean?
Hao siao means pseudojournalists, not employed by a reputable news organization but who pass themselves off as journalists in order to cash in on the payoffs and bribes from news sources, particularly during elections.
What part of speech is hao siao?
Hao siao can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce hao siao?
Hao siao is pronounced /haʊˈʃaʊ/ (Philippines).

Words near hao siao in the dictionary

  1. hanzi
  2. Hanzlik
  3. Hanzliks
  4. Haná
  5. hao
  6. hao siao
  7. Haobam
  8. Haobijam
  9. Haojing
  10. haole
  11. haole time

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hao siao (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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