so suay
- adjective
- Slang
- He's so suay—he lost his wallet twice in one week.
Examples
-
It was so suay that my phone broke right before my trip.
-
You must be so suay to get stuck in traffic every time it rains.
-
That's so suay!
-
Oh no, that's so suay!
-
He's so suay—he lost his wallet twice in one week.
-
It was so suay that my phone broke right before my trip.
-
You must be so suay to get stuck in traffic every time it rains.
Synonyms
89
1.0
Having bad luck that causes problems
Antonyms
How Unlucky
- Slang
- Informal
5
7.9
- Literature
1
9.0
89
1.0
428
1.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
so + suay
The phrase is a simple combination of the intensifier 'so' (very) plus 'suay' (unlucky in Singapore/Malaysia colloquial usage), so the meaning 'very unlucky' is directly derivable from the parts. Although 'suay' is a non-standard/borrowed lexical item, if a learner already knows its meaning the compositional intensifier + adjective pattern is straightforward and immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
So suay comes from the English word so plus a Chinese dialect word suay that means 'unlucky'. People put so before suay to make the idea stronger, so so suay means 'very unlucky' in everyday speech in Singapore and Malaysia.