kiasi
/ˌkjɑːˈsiː/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
Colloquial; Derogatory
Example Sentences
- "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?"
- "The kia-si/kia-su ("afraid to die/afraid to lose") attitude of the Totalisator Boards in Malaysia and Singapore is deplorable."
- "When you are anxious to make the right travel arrangements, you sometimes cannot help but be inquisitive. For those in the travel business, these whines should be a common affair. But when does being "inquisitive" translate into "irritating", or "anxious" into "kiasi" […]"
- "Do not be alarmed if you have received this yellow cylinder which looks like a stick of dynamite and even had the word "explosive" on it. Last week, one "kiasi" fellow was so alarmed that he called the police […]"
- "No lubang, so teruk. Kiasu cannot lose, / Kiasi cannot die; machiam machiam words / We also try. Proper English? So lecheh, / So correct, so actsy for what? […]"