kiah su
n.— «My favorite of these is “kiah su” which is Hokkien for “afraid to lose (out)” (Mandarin pa shu). Someone who is kiah su will go to great lengths to, for example, buy something they don’t really want, because it’s a good buy and a prestigious find. We need a word for this in standard English, though I’ve just started using kiah su.» —“Singlish” by Xiaolongnu Languagehat Apr. 19, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
How and why do words from one language find their way into another? Vietnamese, for instance, includes many words borrowed or adapted from French, a vestige of colonialism. For example, the Vietnamese word for “train station,” ga, comes...