kiasi
Syllables: kia·si
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Singapore/ˌkjɑːˈsiː/
kiasi adjective: unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
Adjective
kiasi (comparative more kiasi, superlative most kiasi)
- Unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
- Why are you so kiasi? You won't die from getting a small cut on the finger.
- If everyone dares to bungee jump, why can't you do the same? Are you kiasi or what?
- Synonyms:
- cowardly
Noun
kiasi (plural kiasi or kiasis)
- A kiasi person.
- Apart from the kiasis and kiasus, there are also Singaporeans at the other end of the scale – the healthcare workers who put their lives at risk.2003 May 28, Frederick Lim, “Sars and the Singaporean: Crisis has brought out the best and the worst”, in Today, Singapore, page 22
- The kiasi (those afraid to die) who insist on seeing a doctor for the most minor complaint such as "my baby sneezed this morning leh".2006 July 5, Tan Chek Wee, “Debugging the kiasi, MC takers [letter]”, in Today, Singapore, page 18
Examples of kiasi in a sentence
- But when does being "inquisitive" translate into "irritating", or "anxious" into "kiasi" […]1991 April 7, Sandi Tan, “Face-to-face with the kiasu customer”, in The Straits Times, page 8:
- Last week, one "kiasi" fellow was so alarmed that he called the police […]1994 September 14, “Promotion blown out of all proportion”, in The Straits Times, page 22:
- Kiasu cannot lose, / Kiasi cannot die; machiam machiam words / We also try.2000, Leong Liew Geok, “Forever Singlish”, in Women without Men, Singapore: Times Books International, →ISBN, page 130:
- Too often you hear about Singaporeans with the "K syndrome", meaning kiasu (afraid of losing out), kiasi (afraid of dying), kiabor (afraid of wife).2001 February 20, Carolyn Chew, “A different take on the Singaporean syndrome”, in Today, page 6:
Synonyms of kiasi
Forms of kiasi
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more kiasi |
| superlative | most kiasi |
| Noun | |
| plural | kiasi |
| plural | kiasis |
Origin of kiasi
Borrowed from Hokkien 驚死／惊死 (kiaⁿ-sí, “afraid to die”).
Words formed from kiasi
Words that rhyme with kiasi
Questions about kiasi
- What does kiasi mean?
- Kiasi means unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
- How do you use kiasi in a sentence?
- But when does being "inquisitive" translate into "irritating", or "anxious" into "kiasi" […]
- What part of speech is kiasi?
- Kiasi can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce kiasi?
- Kiasi is pronounced /ˌkjɑːˈsiː/ (Singapore).
Words near kiasi in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kiasi (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: “kiasi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kiasi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.