Kiasi
Encyclopedia
Kiasi is a Hokkien
phrase, literally means afraid of death, to describe the attitude of being overly afraid or timid. Kiasi is commonly compared to Kiasu
(literally, fear of losing) and both are commonly used to describe behaviour where Kiasi or Kiasi-ism means to take extreme means to avoid risk and Kiasu
or Kiasu-ism
means to take extreme means to achieve success. Kiasi is not as popular as kiasu
, but is widely used by Hokkien-speaking people in Singapore
, Malaysia and Taiwan
.
idiom 贪生怕死 , which describes a person's extreme fear of death, and may drive a person to lose his sense of justice and righteousness. The idiom was originally applied to soldiers that are cowered on the battle field. In modern usage, it refers to people who are irrationally frightful to undertake any task.
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
phrase, literally means afraid of death, to describe the attitude of being overly afraid or timid. Kiasi is commonly compared to Kiasu
Kiasu
Kiasu is a Hokkien word that literally means 'fear of losing' . However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of "dog in a manger", and yet not quite...
(literally, fear of losing) and both are commonly used to describe behaviour where Kiasi or Kiasi-ism means to take extreme means to avoid risk and Kiasu
Kiasu
Kiasu is a Hokkien word that literally means 'fear of losing' . However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of "dog in a manger", and yet not quite...
or Kiasu-ism
Kiasu
Kiasu is a Hokkien word that literally means 'fear of losing' . However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of "dog in a manger", and yet not quite...
means to take extreme means to achieve success. Kiasi is not as popular as kiasu
Kiasu
Kiasu is a Hokkien word that literally means 'fear of losing' . However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of "dog in a manger", and yet not quite...
, but is widely used by Hokkien-speaking people in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Malaysia and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Etymology and usage
The history of kiasi can be traced back to the ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
idiom 贪生怕死 , which describes a person's extreme fear of death, and may drive a person to lose his sense of justice and righteousness. The idiom was originally applied to soldiers that are cowered on the battle field. In modern usage, it refers to people who are irrationally frightful to undertake any task.
In popular culture
- Kiasu, Kiasi : You Think What? (Paperback, 160 pages) by David LeoDavid LeoDavid Leo is a writer in Singapore. Leo received a Publishers Prize for Ah … The Fragrance of Durians & Other Stories in 1993, a National Book Department Council Book Awards for works in English in 1994 for The Sins of the Father and Singapore Literature Prize commendation in 1995 for Wives,...
. ISBN 981-204-626-7