ke belakang pusing
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Singapore/kəˈblɑkɑŋ ˌpuseŋ/
ke belakang pusing verb: to make an about-turn; more precisely, to turn 180 degrees clockwise, then stomp one’s left foot.
Verb
ke belakang pusing (invariable)
- To make an about-turn; more precisely, to turn 180 degrees clockwise, then stomp one’s left foot.
- To turn around and retrace one’s steps (e.g., when one has lost their way or gone in the wrong direction); to turn around and run away (e.g., from a problematic situation).
- He did not even get the chance to step foot on Singapore soil before he was duly told to ‘ke belakang pusing’ (translated to U-turn, in English) back to Batam at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.2022, Amierul Rashid, “'You might wanna visit Johor and claim the same thing': Netizens weigh in on preacher who said Singapore belongs to Riau”, in AsiaOne, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2025
Noun
ke belakang pusing
- A 180° turn; an about-turn.
- Have you ever attempted a ke-belakang pusing (about-turn) on the move with your feet apart? That day, my knee caps stabbed two soldiers in their kidneys.1987, Michael Chiang, Army Daze, Landmark Books, →ISBN, page 65
Forms of ke belakang pusing
| alternative form | ke-belakang pusing |
|---|---|
| alternative form | kebelakang pusing |
| alternative form | keblakang pusing |
| alternative form | kebelakan pusing |
Origin of ke belakang pusing
Unadapted borrowing from Malay ke belakang pusing, a military drill command used in the Singapore Armed Forces, meaning to “turn and face the rear”, i.e., to turn 180 degrees and face the other way.
Questions about ke belakang pusing
- What does ke belakang pusing mean?
- Ke belakang pusing means to make an about-turn; more precisely, to turn 180 degrees clockwise, then stomp one’s left foot.
- What part of speech is ke belakang pusing?
- Ke belakang pusing can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ke belakang pusing?
- Ke belakang pusing is pronounced /kəˈblɑkɑŋ ˌpuseŋ/ (Singapore).
Words near ke belakang pusing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ke belakang pusing (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: “ke belakang pusing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ke_belakang_pusing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.