kiasu attitude
- noun
- Slang
:
actitud kiasu
- Her kiasu attitude drove her to stand in line for hours to be the first to buy the latest smartphone.
Examples
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Many parents develop a kiasu attitude about their children's education, enrolling them in numerous classes.
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In group projects, his kiasu attitude led him to volunteer for every task.
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Her kiasu attitude pushed her to arrive at every sale before anyone else.
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Her kiasu attitude makes her always want to be first.
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Many people exhibit a kiasu attitude during sales events.
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Many parents show a kiasu attitude by enrolling their children in multiple extracurricular activities to ensure they excel.
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During the competition, his kiasu attitude pushed him to spread false rumors about his opponents to gain an advantage.
Antonyms
How Competitive
- Slang
43
4.1
49
4.0
16
3.0
1
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
kiasu + attitude
The phrase is a straightforward combination of 'kiasu' (a modifier denoting an intense fear of missing out/overly competitive behavior) and 'attitude' (habitual way of thinking), so if a learner knows the meaning of 'kiasu' the compound sense follows directly. However, 'kiasu' is a culture-specific loanword not found in many dictionaries, so many B1 learners will not know the constituent and thus may not understand the expression without prior exposure.
Etymology
Kiasu attitude comes from the Hokkien word kiasu, which means 'afraid to lose' or 'fear of missing out'. Picture people pushing to be first in line for free things — that image shows why the phrase now means being very competitive or selfish.