kiasu
Syllables: kia·su
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Singapore/ˈkjɑːsuː/
kiasu adjective: afraid to lose out, particularly because one is overly competitive.
Adjective
kiasu (comparative more kiasu, superlative most kiasu)
- Afraid to lose out, particularly because one is overly competitive.
- No wonder the parents acted that way, she said. They were just being kia-su (afraid to lose out).1985 December 22, Irene Hoe, “A parent's helping hand or a nudge into the rat race?”, in The Straits Times, Singapore, page 20
- The kia-si/kia-su ("afraid to die/afraid to lose") attitude of the Totalisator Boards in Malaysia and Singapore is deplorable.1988 December 11, "Pro Bono Puntero" [pseudonym], “That $5 win minimum [letter]”, in The Straits Times, page 35
Noun
kiasu (plural kiasu or kiasus)
- A kiasu 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
kiasu meaning in Malay
kiasu in Malay
- afraid of losing out
- takut kalah
Examples of kiasu in a sentence
- For the uninitiated, kiasu means "afraid to lose" in the Hokkien dialect.1999 October 13, “Kiasu Motors”, in The Business Times, Singapore, page 2:
- 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:
- Shell's FuelSave saw Singaporeans' kiasu spirit come to the fore.2009 October 27, Lionel de Souza, “You save money, but it's the environment that pays [letter]”, in Today, page 28:
Forms of kiasu
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more kiasu |
| superlative | most kiasu |
| Noun | |
| plural | kiasu |
| plural | kiasus |
Origin of kiasu
Borrowed from Hokkien 驚輸／惊输 (kiaⁿ-su, “afraid to lose out”).
Words formed from kiasu
Words that rhyme with kiasu
Questions about kiasu
- What does kiasu mean?
- Kiasu means afraid to lose out, particularly because one is overly competitive.
- What is kiasu in Malay?
- Kiasu in Malay is takut kalah. See Kiasu meaning in Malay.
- How do you use kiasu in a sentence?
- For the uninitiated, kiasu means "afraid to lose" in the Hokkien dialect.
- What part of speech is kiasu?
- Kiasu can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce kiasu?
- Kiasu is pronounced /ˈkjɑːsuː/ (Singapore).
Words near kiasu in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kiasu (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: “kiasu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kiasu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.