siew dai

9.9

Ask for a drink with less sugar, for example tea or coffee

idiom

Slang

: poco dulce

When he orders teh, he always says siew dai to avoid too much sugar.

Examples

She prefers bubble tea siew dai because it's not overly sweet.
Could I have my coffee siew dai today?
Can I have my coffee siew dai?
He always orders his tea siew dai.
When ordering his tea, he always asks for it siew dai to keep the flavor just right.
She likes her coffee siew dai, so it isn't too sweet for her taste.
For her daily drink, she always orders bubble tea siew dai to reduce the sugar.

Synonyms

nonsweet

vssiew dai

1 3.8

Not containing sugar or tasting sweet

indicates the drink should have less sugar than usual

How Sweet

siew dai

Slang

9.9

sugarless

5 2.5

Surface Forms

siew dai positive

Morphology

siew + dai

This is a regional loan expression (from Hokkien/Chinese) used in Singaporean/Malaysian English and its parts ('siew', 'dai') are not English lexical items with transparent meanings for an average B1 learner. Because the meaning 'less sugar' cannot be derived from the literal constituents by an English-speaking learner and depends on local cultural/linguistic knowledge, it is idiomatic and not compositional.

Etymology

Siew dai comes from Hokkien, a Chinese language spoken in Singapore and Malaysia. The two parts, siew and dai, literally mean 'less sugar' in that language, so when you say siew dai you are asking for a drink with less sweetness.