kao peh kao bu
- noun
- Offensive
- Don't be such a kao peh kao bu all the time!
Examples
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Why is he acting like a kao peh kao bu again?
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The manager warned the staff not to act like a kao peh kao bu over minor issues.
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Don't be such a kao peh kao bu whenever things don't go your way.
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Her constant kao peh kao bu behavior made everyone avoid her.
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Stop being such a kao peh kao bu about the weather; it's just a little rain.
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His tendency to complain made him a real kao peh kao bu during team meetings.
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Whenever she doesn't get her way, she turns into a kao peh kao bu and blames everyone.
Synonyms
1
8.4
A person who complains a lot about small things
A person who often says they are unhappy and finds fault with many small things
A woman or girl who often says she is unhappy about small things
A person who complains in a weak, cowardly way
How Complaining
Surface Forms
Morphology
kao + peh + kao + bu
The elements 'kao', 'peh', 'kao', 'bu' are not English words and the phrase is a culture-specific Singlish/Hokkien idiom; knowing English constituent words would not help a B1 learner derive the meaning. The idiomatic, language-specific origin and lack of compositional English meanings make the overall sense ('a chronic complainer') opaque without prior exposure or knowledge of the source dialect.
Etymology
Kao peh kao bu may come from old Hokkien words that sound like a child crying to both parents, a repeating sound like kao peh kao bu. So it now means someone who keeps complaining or making a big fuss ('always complaining').