lao sai

9.9

Loose, watery poo that you pass when your stomach or bowels are upset

noun

Slang

: diarrea

I had a bad case of lao sai after eating street food.

Examples

Don't eat that if you don't want to get lao sai!
She texted her boss to say she was late due to lao sai.
After eating the street food, he ended up with a bad case of lao sai.
We laughed about our misadventures with lao sai while traveling in Southeast Asia.
After eating the street food, he ended up with a bad case of lao sai.
She texted her boss to say she was late due to lao sai.
We laughed about our misadventures with lao sai while traveling in Southeast Asia.

Synonyms

diarrhea

vslao sai

81 2.1

Frequent watery bowel movements that can cause dehydration

is an informal regional expression used in Singapore and Malaysia

the shits

vslao sai

Offensive

11 9.9

A sudden attack of very loose, watery poo

is an informal regional expression used in Singapore and Malaysia

How Severe

dysentery

15 7.9

diarrhea

81 2.1

lao sai

Slang

9.9

loose

8 6.0

stomach upset

2 2.6

Surface Forms

lao sai singular

lao sais plural

Morphology

lao + sai

This is a regional colloquialism (Singlish/Malaysia) likely borrowed from a non-English substrate; the listed constituents are not attested as English words in the entry, so a B1 learner who only knows English constituents would not be able to derive 'diarrhea' from them. The expression is therefore idiomatic and unpredictable without prior exposure or knowledge of the source language, making it opaque to most learners.

Etymology

Lao sai comes from Hokkien and literally combines lao ('old') and sai ('shit'). People used that strong, simple image for bad stomach trouble, so today lao sai is an informal way to say 'diarrhea' or a bad stomach attack.