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ka ki nang /kah ki nahng, kA ki nAN/ n. phr. [Teo. 自己 ka ki one’s own (ka self, oneself; one’s own + ki oneself; one’s own; personal) + 人 nang people; Mand. zìjǐ rén]  One’s kin or relatives; one’s circle of friends or acquaintances.
2002 Sonny Yap The Straits Times, 4 May, H10 There is no place like home and no sound like the cadences of homespun words which evoke that feeling of affinity among us. The Teochews say it best: we are all ka ki nang (we are all of the same kind).  2003 Dexter Lee Streats, 24 November, 25 Unlike most international carriers, Australian Airlines offered a level of service that shouts ‘ka ki nang’, loosely translated from Teochew as ‘family’. The cabin crew, with both men and women in casual shirts and pants, were especially warm and friendly.  2004 The Straits Times, 11 August, H3 And stories he [Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong] has told of himself as a young shipping greenhorn, scrambling to pick up thye cigar-chomping and wine-sipping habits of his European clients, only endear him to the regular Joe, who sees him as a kaki lang (Hokkien for ‘one of us’).

kacang /kah-chang, ÈkAtSAN/ n. [Mal.] Also formerly kachang.  A bean, a nut, a pea.

Comb.:

ice kacang see Ice Kacang.

kacang pool /puul, pul/ n. [Mal. kacang pol green peas (Winstedt); kacang pul a bean of unidentified species (Wilkinson); pol, pul is prob. < Arab. (فول (مضامّس  fūl (midammis) cooked broad beans with oil (the national dish in Egypt) (Wehr); baked beans (generally eaten for breakfast by the natives) (Spiro): fūl bean(s); broad bean(s), horse beans(s) (Wehr); a kind of bean (when dry), a vetch (Johnson) + poss. mudammis one who makes any thing (esp. a bed) smooth and soft (Johnson)]  A Malay porridge-like dish of Middle-Eastern origin made with broad beans (Faba vulgaris) or kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris): see quot. 2003.
2003 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times, 5 October, L39 Kacang pool.. This Middle Eastern dish is commonly eaten in Malay households but rarely sold in stalls. Resembling porridge, it is made with kidney beans, which are first boiled, then ground into chunky bits and cooked with curry powder and spices. While there are many versions, this one by owner Ayob Rahman, 46, is served with bread, chilli, lime and onions.

kacang putih /puu-teı, pUÈtE/ n. [Mal. kacang putih the green or garden pea (Pisum sativum) (Wilkinson, Winstedt): putih, puteh white]  Also formerly kachang puteh.  Roasted and salted or sweetened peas, peanuts and other beans or nuts eaten as snacks, traditionally sold wrapped in paper cones.
1981 Eugene Yap Giau Cheng Parliamentary Debates: Official Report, 25 March, vol. 40, col. 1171 It was a pleasing sight to watch these school children lining up to buy their favourite packet of kachang puteh. But the kachang puteh seller was merrily using his hands to fill up the packets with kachang puteh, thereby, breaking the food handling regulations.  2001 Arti Mulchand The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 25 February, P7 From the cardboard cut-outs proclaiming the Next Change on the outside, the kachang putih stalls, and the makeshift food stalls that skirted the building, Rex [Cinema] has etched itself as a monument of a nostalgic era in many minds.  2006 Moses Lim Weekend Today, 16–17 December, 38 If you know Malay, you’ll know that kachang puteh literally means “white beans”. And you’ll have noticed the incongruity of the name given to the assorted, colourful nuts we’re so familiar with. .. [D]oesn’t kachang puteh bring to mind Indian vendors who sell them in paper cones? When I was young, I used to see kachang puteh vendors in cinemas selling all sorts of nuts. But the most popular type had to be the white sugar-coated peanut. Maybe this was why the term “kachang puteh” was coined. Other than in cinemas, kachang puteh sellers could also be seen setting up shop by the street together with other street hawkers. Then, there were the Indian vendors who’d balance a wooden rack that was filled with kachang puteh on their heads, as they set about hawking the little delights. Perhaps the most interesting part about kachang puteh is how the nuts were presented – in paper cones made from pages of old magazines, which one was prone to read when he was done with the colourful, tasty nuts.

kacau /kah-chahu, kAÈtSaU/ v. [Mal., jumbled up, mixed indiscriminately (Wilkinson); compare mengachau create confusion, interfere (Winstedt)] Also formerly kachau.  Disturb, bother, be a nuisance.
2002 Michelle Ho (quoting Chieu Shuey Fook) The Straits Times (Life!), 15 June, L12 She [my cat] seems to understand when I’m busy and keeps quiet, and knows when I’m more relaxed and will come and ‘kacau’ (disturb) me.

kachang var. of Kacang.

kachau var. of Kacau.

kai lan /gı lun, gÃI lÃn/ n. [Cant., a sort of coarse cabbage (like Brassica): 芥 kái Sinapis japonica + 兰 lán fragrant plants; orchidaceous plants; epidendrum (Eitel); Mand., cabbage mustard, 芥兰 or 芥蓝 gàilán: gài mustard + lán orchid or blue; indigo plant (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Brassica alboglabra (or Brassica oleracea var. albiflora), a perennial plant with oval leaves and fleshy leaf-stalks which is eaten as a vegetable; cabbage mustard, Chinese kale.
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 32–33 Brassica alboglabra Bailey (Cruciferae) (B. oleracea var. albiflora O. Kunze) Chinese kale.. kai-lan.. A perennial with dull or glossy thick bluish-green, oval, often glaucous leaves and elongated fleshy inflorescences. It is cut for the market from the young plants or before the first flower buds begin to open. In recent years, small plants grown in crowded conditions have been harvested for sale in the markets. .. Some authorities regard this as a variety of B. oleracea but it is quite unlike any kale grown in Europe or England. It is widely cultivated in South-East Asia like Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. .. This plant is high in calcium and iron content and vitamin A precursors. It can be cooked in a variety of ways.  2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Straits Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 9 July. [T]here are the veggies: mushrooms, spinach, kailan, baby corn, beansprouts and eggplant, among others.  2006 Neil Humphreys Final Notes from a Great Island 119 Lettuce, spinach, kailan and cai xin. Got most kinds of local vegetable here.  2006 Cheong Suk-Wai The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 1 October. When he started out on 3ha in 1998, he planted only four types of vegetables – chye sim, kai lan, xiao bai chai and Chinese cabbage.

kaki /kah-kee, ÈkAkiù/ n. [Mal., foot (of a person, hill); leg (of a person, chair, table), pedestal (Winstedt); kaki tangan (kerajaan) legs and arms, limbs = helpers, henchmen (Wilkinson); accomplices, servants (Winstedt): tangan hand; hand and forearm (Wilkinson, Winstedt); kerajaan var. of raja king, queen; any prince or princess (Winstedt)]

[1995 Joan Margaret Marbeck Ungua Adanza 193 kaki  leg, regular players of a card game/close friends]

1 A friend.  2 A fellow participant in a joint enterprise; spec. a partner in a game: golf kaki, mahjong kaki, makan kaki.
1  1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 kaki – Malay for good friend.  2000 Dennis Wee with Sylvia Fong Making Luck with Your Hands 24 I brought my kakis to attend the sessions.  28 I would zoom out of the house and head for Kasbah where my kakis hung out.  2000 Cheong Suk-Wai The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 3 September, 3 A mob of diehard kakis.  2000 Boey Kim Cheng The Straits Times (Life! Books), 9 October, 4 Longing to be admitted and to listen to the table talk of Nizam and his kakis.  2 2000 Dennis Wee with Sylvia Fong Making Luck with Your Hands 59 My usual mahjong kaki.  2000 Yeow Kai Chai The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 2 July, 5 He has his posse of stylist-kakis.  2000 Cheong Suk-Wai The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 13 July, 6 A party of eight boisterous ang moh lunch kakis.

kalang kabok var. of Kalang Kabut.

kalang kabut /kah-lahng kah-boot, ÈkAlAN ÈkAbUt/ v. & a. [Mal., gloomy, dark, mentally befogged; in a commotion (Winstedt); darkness that hides; very obscure or involved (Wilkinson): kalang lying across the way; crossbar; impediment (Wilkinson); a round transverse support; = kelam (Winstedt) + kabut anything that blurs or renders indistinct (Wilkinson); mist, fog (Winstedt)] Also kelam kabut, (erron.) kalang kabok.  A v. Make a mess of, panic.  B a. Confused, chaotic.
B [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 488 kělam k. [kabut], kalang k. (darkness that hides).. 498 Kalang-kabut: very obscure or involved; Si Jamin [Si-Djamin dan Si Djohan (2nd ed.), (Batavia: Balai Poestaka)] 60, = kělam kabut.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 146 kělam (or kalang J. [Johor Malay]) k. [kabut] (1) gloomy, dark, mentally befogged, (2) in a commotion..]  2000 Dennis Wee with Sylvia Fong Making Luck with Your Hands 16 I made a clumsy drummer. I was the kelang kabok type, one who simply couldn’t get his rhythm right!

kali pok /kah-lee pok, ÈkAliù p�k/ n. [mispron. of Eng. curry puff]  A curry puff.

kampong var. of Kampung.

kampung /kam-pong, ÈkAmp�N/ n. & a. [Mal., assembling, grouping; a cluster of houses, a hamlet; the buildings (with outhouses, etc.) making up a dwelling] Also formerly campong, kampong.  A n. A hamlet or village, esp. in a rural area.  B a. Of or relating to a kampung.
A 1865 John Cameron Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India 68–69 The portion of the town which stands on the western side of the river covers probably an area of 128 acres; but though it is the busiest it is by no means the largest. On the eastern side are the various campongs, or districts, bordering one on the other, and which together occupy an area of 333 acres. These campongs are chiefly composed of dwelling-houses used by the natives, of similar construction to those already described, and they scarcely merit any particular notice. There is a Campong Bencoolen, Campong Rochore, Campong Kapor, a Campong Java, a Campong Bugis, and Campong Glam, – the first part of the island sold, and where the European merchants originally had their residences, but which has now passed chiefly into the occupation of the natives. Though the Campongs Java, Bugis, &c., were probably first occupied by the races whose name they bear, no such distinction appears now to exist.  1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 174 Kampong. – An enclosure, collection of houses, village. It forms the prefix to the names of many places in the Peninsula, such as Kampong Bharu, Kampong Rawa, &c.  1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 67 Lek Moh says he enjoys living in his kampung in the rural area and would hate to stay in a [sic] HDB flat in an urban setting. His most pleasant childhood memories are involved with his play in the little woods around his kampung, picking fruits, etc.  2001 Jason Leow The Straits Times, 6 January, H1 Kampung spirit lives on in HDB homes [title] The nearest bus-stop was an hour on foot from Colin Ang’s kampung when his extended family lived in Boh Suan Tian, now Seletar Reservoir, for over two decades.  2005 Natalie Soh The Straits Times (National Day Special), 9 August, 102–103. Last kampung standing [title] Kampong Lorong Buang Kok is one of the last kampungs left on the mainland. It was nicknamed Kampung Selak Kain, Malay for the “kampung of hitched-up sarongs” – people had to hitch up their gear all the time because of constant flooding. Back in the 1960s, there were 40 families which called it home, but now there are little over 20 left.  B 2000 Suhaila Sulaiman The Straits Times (Life!), 27 December, L6 Urban life just does not allow the luxury of time that one had back in the kampung days.  2001 Cat Ong (quoting Bernie Chan) The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 14 January, P19 I was scrawnier than any kampung chicken.  2001 Arthur Sim (quoting Danny Ong) The Straits Times (Life!), 27 January, L6 Missing the old days, he remembers fondly how ‘doors were always open’ in his kampung neighbourhood.

Comb.:

balek kampung see Balek Kampung.

kampung chicken /kam-pong, ÈkAmp�N/ n. [Eng.]  A chicken that is reared in a kampung; a free-range chicken.
2001 Cat Ong (quoting Bernie Chan) The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 14 January, P19 I was scrawnier than any kampung chicken.  2005 Mak Mun San The Straits Times (Life!), 9 February, 4 Unlike normal chickens which are commercially bred on a large scale, kampong chickens are not kept in a cage but allowed to roam freely. They are also called free range chickens. They are said to be tougher, leaner and healthier than normal chickens.  2006 Peter Khoo The Straits Times (Life!), 4 January, 6 I also canned the big dinner plan, choosing there and then to cook. My only purchase that day was a fresh kampung chicken for $4.50 and potatoes, which would serve as our Christmas dinner.  2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 26 November. [T]he restaurant uses only kampung chicken from Malaysia, which is more tasty than their battery-farm cousins. That also explains why there is so little meat on the bones.

kan cheong /kahn cheong, kAn tSiù�N/ a. [Cant. 紧 kan urgent, in haste, pressing, important + 张 cheung to bend a bow; to extend, to stretch; to open (Eitel); Mand. jĭnzhāng nervous, keyed up; tense, intense, strained: jĭn urgent, pressing, tense + zhāng open, spread, stretch; magnify, exaggerate (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also kancheong.  1 Nervous, keyed up.  2 Tense, intense, strained.
1 2002 Michelle Ho (quoting Diana Liaw) The Straits Times (Life!), 13 August, L8 I was so ‘kancheong’ (Cantonese for worried) about his tests that I woke him up at 5:30 am to remind him not to make mistakes.  2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 3 October, L16 [T]he Wife was unusually late one night coming home from class, and I was getting increasingly kan cheong..  2006 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 1 January, L12 Of course, when we mentioned to Singaporean friends and relatives that we were planning on doing this, they got all kan cheong.

Comb.: kan cheong spider n. & a. [Eng.]  A n. A person with a nervous disposition, one who is easily flustered.  B a. Kan cheong.
A 2003 Jane Lee (quoting Seto Lek Keong) The Straits Times (Home), 20 October, H4 ‘My platoon mates call me “kan cheong spider”,’ – a term used to describe someone who is nervous – he says, grinning as he relates his daily fumbling at roll call that inspired the Singlish monicker.  B 2000 Tan Shzr Eee (quoting Huang Lie Chuan) The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 10 December, P2 ‘Before that, I was using Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee [for my mobile telephone ringing tone] – my friends called it the kancheong spider tune. ..’ Kancheong is Cantonese for anxious.

kan ni na /kahn ni nah, kAn ni nA/ int. [Hk., fuck your mother: 奸 kan to offend against modesty and propriety; wanton, lascivious; clandestine, false + 你 neé^ng you, thou (Medhurst); Mand. jiān illicit sexual relations + nǐ you (second person singular) (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] highly vulg. & offensive  Used as a term of abuse.
2006 Neil Humphreys Final Notes from a Great Island 72 Then I heard a cough and the distinct phrase “kan ni na.” That was an extremely unpleasant Hokkien vulgarity, I thought.

Phrase: kan ni na bu chao chee bye /boo chow chee bı, bU tSaU tSiù bÃI/ [Hk., fuck your mother’s stinking cunt; see Chao Chee Bye] highly vulg. & offensive  Used as a term of abuse.
1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 25 Very xiong! K– n– n– b– c– c– b–.  137 k– n– n– b– c– c– b–. Extended remix version of an indiscreet vulgarity too unspeakable to pass through censorship.  [2001 Magistrate Adam Nakhoda (quoting Chee Han Choon) Public Prosecutor v. Pek Eng Hua, 28 December, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 254 of 2001, [2001] SGMC 44, para. 30, Magistrate’s Court (Singapore). Mr. Chee remarked that the accused had not asked him to arrange the site survey. Mr. Chee being displeased about this additional requirement of a site survey then scolded the accused in Hokkien saying “Kanna na bu chee bye tap pai la kuah choa qu tai chi” which means “Fuck you [sic] mother’s vagina, every time you survey there is trouble”.]  2002 District Judge Suriakumari d/o Sidambaram Silver Packiam s/o Nurusamy v. Public Prosecutor, District Arrest Case Nos. 59174–59179, 59639–59641 of 2001 and No. 6473 of 2002, and Magistrate’s Arrest Case Nos. 12077–12080 of 2002, [2002] SGDC 169, para. 2, District Court (Singapore). You, Silver Packiam s/o Nurusamy, are charged that you.. did use abusive words to one Police Corporal, Jimmy Foo Tze Jui, a public servant, to wit, by scolding the officer.. ‘ka ni na bu chee bye’ in Hokkien language meaning ‘fuck you mother vagina’ [sic], during the execution of his duty as such public servant, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 13(D)(1)(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, Chapter 184.

kana /kah-nah, ˈkɑnɑ/ n. [Hk. 橄榄 kⁿa na an olive (Medhurst); Mand. gǎnlǎn Chinese olive (Canarium album), the fruit of the canary tree; olive (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  1 Olives that have been dried and preserved using salt and sugar, eaten as a snack.  2 transf.  A general term for preserved fruits.
[2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 96 kana [橄欖] preserved olives; general term for preserved fruits]

kang he kia /kahng huur kiah, kAN h«ù kIA/ n. [Hk., ‘small river fish’: Ikan Bilis: 江 kang a river, a large stream + 鱼 hê fish + 子 këⁿa (colloq.) a son, a child (Medhurst); Mand. jiāng river + yú fish + zǐ young, tender, small (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] mil. slang  A stripe or chevron worn on the sleeves of uniforms of lance corporals, corporals, sergeants, etc., to indicate rank.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 308 kang hi kia. Very small fish: Hokkien. Used to describe chevrons worn by Other Ranks. Ikan bilis in Malay.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 44 Kang he kia (Hokkien). Small fish; ikan bilis. Derogatory reference to lance corporal’s stripes.

kangkong /kahng-kong, ÈkANk�N/ n. [Mal.]  Ipomoea aquatica, a perennial semi-aquatic plant of the genus Convolvulus producing long shoots with white or pink flowers, arrow-shaped leaves and hollow stems, which is eaten as a vegetable; water spinach.
¶ Known in Cant. as ung choi, in Hk. as eng chye, and in Mand. as 蕹菜 wèngcài (see quot. 1991).
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 506 kangkong.. A flowering convolvulus; Ipomoea aquatica, I. reptans. Eaten as a spinach (Mal. Annals [Malay Annals] 106, 107).]  1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 28 Kangkong.. At least two varieties are cultivated. The aquatic form planted by Malays in the rice fields, provides a succulent leaf vegetable called ‘water kangkong’ (水蕹菜 [Mand. shuǐ wèngcài]) which is a major ingredient in a popular Malaysian dish: cuttlefish-kangkong (鱿鱼蕹菜 [Mand. yóuyǘ wèngcài]). It also occurs wild. The other variety is the dryland form, known as kangkong puteh, grown from seeds as are other vegetables except it requires plenty of water. It is of more slender habit and considered more superior.  2004 Chai Hung Yin The Straits Times (Mind Your Body), 29 December, 14 According to the Chinese community, eating kangkong is associated with getting cramp in the legs. .. The belief could be based on the concept of the cooling and heaty properties of vegetables, as well as how ‘cool’ or ‘heaty’ a person already is.. It’s not easy to determine which foods are in either category, but kangkong may be considered so [cooling] because it grows in water.  2006 Low Shi Ping Weekend Today, 9–10 December, 29 One of my favourite vegetables is kangkong, and the version served here did not disappoint. Its chilli kangkong ($7) is wok-fried with prawn paste, dried shrimp and chilli. Neither too oily nor spicy, the vegetables were skilfully cooked to retain their crunchiness.

kang tao /kahng tow, kAN taU/ n. [Hk. (?) 孔 k’hang, k’háng a hole + 头 t’haôu (colloq.) the head (Medhurst); Mand. (?) kǒng hole, opening, aperture + tóu head; top, end; chief, head; first, leading (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  1 One’s contacts or connections.  2 football betting  a hot tip.
1 1994 C S Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 78 A regular who easily outclassed.. in terms of age, experience and that all all-important asset in a unit: kang tao. .. He would surely lose out in terms of the vital kang tao in any attempt to run the department if he had minimum cooperation from the platoon sergeant.  137 kang tao. Connections.  2004 ‘Mr Brown’ (Lee Kin Mun) Today, 28 May, 35 You know you have sunk to a new low when you have to ask your friends in the media industry if they have any lobang or kangtow to get tickets to the sold-out live show, Barney’s Big Surprise.  2006 Chong Chee Kin (quoting Steve Chia) The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 7 May. My priority now is to find a good job, so if you have any kang tao (opening in Hokkien), let me know..  2 2006 Chan Yi Shen The Sunday Times, 20 August, 34 Singapore’s EPL [English Premier League] lingo [title].. Kang tau: hot tip

kantang see Kentang.

kao peh kao bu /kow bay kow buu, kaU beI kaU bU/ v. [Hk., quarrel with one’s father and mother: 叫 keaòu to call, to bawl, to cry out + 父 pāy (colloq.) father + 母 bó mother (Medhurst); Mand. cáo quarrel, wrangle, squabble, fù father, mŭ mother (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also kao pei kao bu.  Complain or grumble, esp. frequently or incessantly.
2000 Gates Chong 8 Days (TV Guide) No. 494 (Mar 25 – Apr 1) 34 The belligerent kao-pei, kao-bu (Hokkien for kicking up a big fuss) posturings he’s perfected.  2005 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 27 February, L12 [T]his year’s Oscar host, the acerbic comedian Chris Rock, has proclaimed award shows as “idiotic”, sparking a round of kao peh kao bu-ing from the Academy about biting the hand that feeds.  2006 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 4 June. This topic arose at a recent group coffee-cum-complaints (or ‘kopi-cum-kau peh kau bu’, as we prefer to call it) session at a hawker centre.

kapok var. of Kapuk.

kapuk /kah-puuk, ÈkApUk/ v. [poss. < Mal. kapuk hug, embrace; compare Penang & Perak Mal. berkapuk clasp a person from behind (Winstedt)] Also formerly kapok.  Remove, steal, take without permission.

karang guni /kah-rahng goo-nee, ÈkArAN Èguniù/ var. of karung guni.

karung guni /kah-rung goo-nee, ÈkArUN Èguniù/ n. [Mal., Ind. karong, karung coarse matting sack, bag, bale (Horne) + Ind. guni (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng.), Jav. goni, guni  gunny sack, jute (Horne); or Hind. & Mahratti गोन् gōn, गोनी gōnī < Skt. गोनी gōnī a sack, torn or ragged clothes (Monier-Williams); > Eng. gunny a coarse material used chiefly for sacking and made from the fibres of jute or (in some parts) from sunn-hemp; a sack of this material]  Also karang guni.  Junk, trash, rag-and-bone items.  Also attrib.
2000 Alfred Siew The Straits Times (Computer Times), 12 April, 33 The karang guni or rag-and-bone items incur my mother’s wrath.  2006 Tan Choon Ming The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 27 March. Singapore’s karung guni folk are the unsung heroes [title].. The sight of an old lady struggling to push her load of recyclable material elicits sympathy among passers-by. .. I see the old lady as a karung guni or rag-and-bone trader. She plies a trade that many shun. She and her karung guni trade perform some important functions in society. .. The karung guni folk fill an environmental niche. Since the early days, they have been the country’s recycling backbone. Without their backbreaking toil to balance an increasingly affluent throwaway society, we would be incinerating and land-filling a lot more rubbish. Our karung guni folk work not for the sake of recycling. Their motivation is to earn a decent living by selling the recyclables. The work is very hard and the income can be irregular, but the buying and selling of used products afford the worker a livelihood. Many younger Singaporeans squirm at the thought of picking up other peoples’ discards and pushing a trolley load through a busy street. The karung guni is therefore an unrecognised group of steely entrepreneurs. As society develops and its people lead increasingly structured lives, the karung guni may one day become just another old story. Informal recycling by the rag-and-bone folk is progressively replaced by institutionalised recycling programmes. Although the aim of resource conservation remains unchanged, which is good, I am deeply saddened by the absence of the economic and social significance epitomised by our karung guni men and women.

Comb.:

karung guni man n.  A rag-and-bone man.
2000 Chua Chin Hon The Straits Times, 6 August, 29 The karung-guni men who collect old newspapers for recycling.  2000 Josephine James The Straits Times, 27 October, 48 Recycling for charity is bringing in dollars for the needy but it spells trouble for the karang guni man, who traditionally picked up old newspapers.

katek var. of Katik.

kati /ke-ti, ÈkEtI/ n. [Mal. & Jav. kātī, katī; > Eng. catty] hist.  A unit of weight equal to 16 Tahils, that is, about 1⅓ lb. avoirdupois or 625 grammes (more accurately, 0.604790 kilogramme).
1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 177 Kati. – Frequently written “Catty,” a weight of 1⅓ pounds avoirdupois; the kati contains 16 taels, and 100 katis make a pikul, or picul, literally “a load.” The tael, the kati, and the pikul are native words, but the weights they express are Chinese.  1947 Richard Olaf Winstedt The Malays, ch. 6, 112 Soon after the founding of Malacca Chinese annals under 1416 record.. that, ‘tin.. is cast into small blocks weighing 1 kati 8 tahil or 1 kati 4 tahil official weight... They use these pieces of tin instead of money.’  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 516 kati. .. «catty»; a measure of weight of sixteen tahil or about one and one-third lb. avoirdupois.]  1970 Metrication Act 1970 (No. 52 of 1970), s. 5(b). Conversion of imperial standard units to metric system units. The values expressed in terms of .. the local customary system of weights and measures, may be converted into the values expressed in terms of the International System of Units in accordance with Schedule C. .. Schedule C .. Conversion of Local Customary Units to Equivalent SI Units .. 1 kati = 0.604790 kilogramme approximately  1972 The Straits Times, 25 November, 15 col. 1 The gold bars, weighing 15 katis seven tahils.

katik /kah-tik, ÈkAtIk/ a. [Mal., of a person or rooster: dwarf, stunted] Also formerly katek.  Of a person: short.
2004 Philip Lee Streats, 12 November, 18 I am too ‘katik’ (Malay for short) to attract women as a potential mate. They look at a short man and say to themselves: No I don’t want short children.  2005 Ng Hui Hui (quoting Jeffrey Chung) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 23 October. She’s very katek (Malay for short), only 1.63m. But I groomed her and she made it to the top 10 in the Princess Model Of The World 2004 contest in Hong Kong.

Comb.: katik ayam /ı-yuum, ˈʌɪjʌm/ n. [Mal. ayam chicken]  A very short person.

kau choi /gə choy, g« tS�I/ n. [Cant. 韭 kau leek; onions + 菜 ts‘oi edible plants, vegetables (Eitel); Mand. jiǔcài: jiǔ fragrant-flowered garlic, (Chinese) chives + cài vegetable, greens (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Allium tuberosum, a plant related to garlic and leek with long, grass-like leaves that grows in clumps, which is used as a vegatable; Chinese chive.
¶ Known in Hk. as kéw ch’haè scallions, a kind of leeks: kéw an aromatic vegetable + ch’haè (Medhurst).
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 112 Allium tuberosum Rottler ex Sprengel (Liliaceae) Chinese chives.. kur-choi (C[antonese]).. A lowland vegetable, the plant produces dense clumps of long, grass-like leaves about 5 mm wide, flat and solid. The young leaves are erect but the mature leaves bend gracefully down. The blades of the leaves are not folded lengthwise as are those of garlic and leek. Chives may be cultivated for its flowers which are plucked together with the stalks before the buds emerging from the sheath, or grown for its edible leaves which have a special flavour considered fragrant by some people. .. Both leaves and flowering culms are eaten as vegetables, the latter being one of the most expensive vegetables sold.  2006 Tom Norrington-Davies The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), 8 April, 7 Wild garlic is abundant at this time of year, but chives or spring onions will work in its place. The slender garlic chive (kow choi) from an oriental supermarket would be even better.

kau kay /gow gay, gaU geI/ n. [Cant. 枸杞 kau kí Lycium Chinense (Eitel); Mand. gǒuqǐ fruit of the Chinese wolfberry (Lycium chinense) (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also kau kay tzee.  The small, red fruit of the Chinese boxthorn or Chinese wolfberry (Lycium chinense), often dried, which is used in Chinese dishes and soups and in traditional Chinese medicine.
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 134 Lycium chinense Mill. (Solanaceae) Chinese boxthorn.. kou-kay-choi, (C[antonese]). .. This shrub.. bears reddish purple flowers followed by orange-red berries. The thick stem on which the flowers grow is often called “the walking stick of the immortals” (仙人杖 [Mand. xiānrén zhàng: xiānrén celestial being, immortal (xiān celestial being, immortal + rén human being, man, person, people) + zhàng cane, stick]). Locally, the plant is imported from Cameron Highlands and is seldom found on sale except at the right season. .. The small dried red berries sold as a tonic in medical halls are very rich in carotene and are, [sic] thus good for the eyes.

kau kay choi /choy, tS�I/ n. [Cant. ts‘oi edible plants, vegetables (Eitel); Mand. 菜 cài vegetable, greens (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  The soft, oval, dark green, slightly bitter leaves of the Chinese boxthorn (Lycium chinense) which are used as a vegetable in Chinese dishes and soups.
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 134 Lycium chinense Mill. (Solanaceae) Chinese boxthorn.. kou-kay-choi, (C[antonese]). .. This shrub has long, recurved, thorny branches. Leaves are dark green, ovate, about 3 cm long. .. The soft slightly bitter leaves are cooked with pork or used in soups.

kau kay tzee /tzee, tziù/ n. [Cant. 子 tsz a child; a son; posterity, descendants; tsz tsz small seeds (Eitel); Mand. zǐ seed (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Kau Kay.

kay kay /kay kay, keI keI/ v. [Hk. 假 káy false, not true (Medhurst); Mand. jiă false, fake, sham, phoney, artificial (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Act Blur, pretend.

kay kiang /kay kiahng, keI kiAN/ v. [Hk., pretend, feign: 假 káy false, not true + (?) 腔(调) k’hëang (teaôu) hollow vain orientation (teaôu to unite, to amalgamate, to accord, to harmonize) (Medhurst); Mand. jiǎ false, fake, sham, phoney, artificial + (?) qiāng tune, pitch; accent; speech (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Pretend to be clever, be a smart-aleck.
1987 Toh Paik Choo On the Buses 17 Don’t keh kiang.  2005 Philip Lee The New Paper (from The Electric New Paper), 10 December. [O]ne never knows how such unsolicited advice might be taken. The owner might just ask me not to be too ‘keh khiang’ (clever by half) and to mind my own business, just as he was so successfully minding his.

kaya /kı-yah, ÈkÃIjA/ n. [< Mal. seri)kaya: seri charm; quintessence; splendour, glory (Wilkinson); charm (of a face, country); cynosure (something that attracts attention by its brilliancy or beauty; a centre of attraction, interest, or admiration) (Winstedt) < Skt. सार sāra essence, substance; the substantial or essential part of anything; the best or choicest part; the quintessence; the heart; cream, curds, nectar; strength, power, vigour, force, courage, prowess, valour, heroism, firmness, hardness; worth, excellence, highest degree of perfection; wealth, goods, riches; compare Skt. सवऀ sarva all, every; whole, entire, universal, complete < Skt. सृ sṛi to go, move, proceed; to approach; to go fast, run; to flow; to blow (as the wind) (apparently involving in some of its derivatives a meaning ‘to be strong, to be whole or entire’) (Monier-Williams) + Mal. kaya great, powerful; rich, wealthy (Winstedt) < Skt. काय kāya relating or devoted to the god Ka or Prajāpati < Skt. क ka the Who?, the Inexplicable, the Unknown: applied as a name to any chief god or object of worship; wealth, property; compare Skt. गय gaya a house, household, family, goods and chattels, the contents of a house, property, wealth (Monier-Williams)]

[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 920 p. [pulut] serikaya: crushed p. and coconut with a spiced syrup of coconut and egg.  1086–1087 sěri kaya. .. Name of a sweetmeat; Ht. Bugis [Silasilah Melayu dan Bugis (Singapore, a.h. 1329 [1911])] 144.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 328 sěrikaya, .. sweetmeat (steamed) of egg, sugar and coconut-milk.  1995 Joan Margaret Marbeck Ungua Adanza 209 serikaya  coconut-egg-jam]

A sauce, usu. green or orange in colour, made chiefly of coconut, eggs and sugar which is often eaten with bread, used as a filling in pastries, etc.
2000 Joshua Lye The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 13 February, 4 I’d be willing to eat kaya bread for lunch for a good long while, for the chance to take the cheapest flight possible..  2000 Cheong Suk-Wai The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 22 June, 11 Housewives had learnt to improvise by stirring eggs, coconut cream, sugar and pandan leaves vigorously over a well-controlled flame to form.. kaya, or egg jam. Kaya, is Malay for ‘rich’, which is exactly how this luscious condiment tastes on the tongue.  2000 Chua Lee Hong The Straits Times, 20 December, H15 He knows where to find good fried carrot cake (in Ang Mo Kio), kaya bread (Killiney Road) and chicken rice (River Valley).  2007 Chris Tan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 13 May. Hainanese and Thai renditions of kaya are stirred over low, steady heat until the mixture thickens to a glossy paste. Nonya cooks also do this in a double boiler, but also typically go on to steam the kaya undisturbed over low heat for another couple of hours at least, until it sets to a sliceable firmness.

Comb.: kaya toast n. [Eng.]  Toast spread with kaya and, usu., pieces of butter.
2000 Jessica Tan (quoting Vincent Ng) The Straits Times (Life!), 22 July, 28 He talks about kaya toast with ferocious passion.  2003 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times, 5 October, L39 Ya Kun’s signature kaya toast – brown bread toasted till crispy then sliced into two thin halves and spread with kaya and a slab of butter – is a must-try for a taste of days gone by.  2005 Lee Tee Jong The Sunday Times, 15 Since the Ya Kun Kaya Toast franchise outlet opened for business [in Seoul] late last month, a stream of South Koreans have been tucking into kaya toast with half-boiled eggs and finishing it off with kopi-o (coffee without sugar). No efforts are spared in creating the all-too-familiar coffee-shop atmosphere. Brown bread is made with ingredients imported from Singapore. It is toasted carefully over charcoal until it turns a crispy shade of black, before a generous spread of green kaya paste is added. Coffee or tea is placed in a porcelain cup upon a saucer, while the toast is placed on a little red plate with a tiny metal fork next to it. .. For undergraduate Hwang En Bi, 22, it was a novelty to pour out the half-boiled egg onto the saucer, add a tinge of dark soya sauce and pepper before stirring the contents.  2006 Boey Meihan The Straits Times (National Day Supplement), 9 August, 16 Just $1.80 buys me a breakfast of rich kopi, kaya toast with chunks of butter and two half-boiled eggs speckled with soya sauce and pepper. The kaya toast tastes both salty and sweet, that’s why it’s so shiok.

kaypoh /kay-poh, gay-poh, ÈkeIp«U, ÈgeIp«U/ n. & a. [Hk. (?) 耆(老) ké (ló) old people + (?) 婆 pô the epithet of an old woman (Medhurst); Mand. (?) qí over sixty years of age, very old + (?) pó old woman (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also kay poh, kay-poh.  A. n. One who is nosy or prying; one who meddles in others’ affairs; a nosy-parker.  B. a. Nosy, prying.
A 2006 Lim Boon Hee Today, 25 July, 19 Vigilantism can cut both ways: Fine line between kindliness, kaypoh-ness [title].. [T]oo much vigilantism will result in a self-righteousness society where kaypohs pick on everything they don’t approve of in the name of creating more civil living.  B 1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 72 Your every move is monitored by umpteen pairs of kay-poh eyes.  1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 kay poh – nosy.  2000 Angelena Lim The Straits Times (Computer Times), 26 January, 23 According to legend, beautiful but ‘kaypoh’ Pandora is given a box by the gods and told not to open it.  2000 Suzanne Sng The Straits Times (Life!), 2 May, 18 His questions stop short of being too kaypoh.  2001 Neil Humphreys Notes from an Even Smaller Island 114–115 Ironically, the only thing that does seem to bring HDB neighbours together is a good old-fashioned crime. As soon as a police siren is heard screaming outside your block, doors and front grilles are opened and before you can say ‘kaypoh’, the corridor is brimming with eagle-eyed neighbours.  2001 Suzanne Sng The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 1 February, 3 The Chinese New Year is almost over. .. The kaypoh relatives have stopped commenting on how tall you’ve grown.

Comb.: kaypoh chee /chee, tSiù/ n. [Hk. 子 ché (colloq.), choó a son, a child; anything diminutive (Medhurst); Mand. zǐ son, child; person (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  A kaypoh person.

kayu /kah-yoo, ÈkAjuù/ a. [Mal., wood, wooden]  Dull, stupid, block-headed.
2000 Tay Cheng Khoon The Straits Times, 8 February, 33 ‘Notice,’ he said, ‘not a single “referee kayu” yet.’  2001 Neil Humphreys Notes from an Even Smaller Island 153 I have always believed that a good testing ground for a community’s sense of humour is on the terraces of its local football club. Needless to say, I was delighted to discover that Singaporean football fans also share the piss-taking wit of the terraces. Every time a referee makes a perceived error, one half of the stadium will instantly cry, ‘Referee kayu, referee kayu.’ After asking around, I learnt that kayu means ‘wood’ in Malay. In this context, then, the referee is ‘dead wood’ or a ‘plank’.  2004 Karl Ho The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 13 June, L6 Kayu. Malay word meaning ‘wood’, used here to mean ‘useless’. Usage: ‘Referee, kayu lah!  How can he red-card Zidane like that?’  2006 Neil Humphreys Final Notes from a Great Island 172 In Malay, kayu means “wood”. But in recent years, and particularly since the Malaysia Cup era, the word kayu has taken on negative connotations. “Referee kayu”, for instance, means that the man in black is wooden or dim-witted.

kebelakang pusing /kə-blah-kahng puu-sing, k«ÈblAkAN pUÈSIN/ v. phr. [Mal., drill command for turning around and marching in the direction that one came from: kebelakang backwards < ke, ka towards  + belakang back, behind, rear + pusing rotate, turn around] mil. slang  Escape, flee, run away.
2005 Hong Xinyi The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 19 June. Ke belakang pusing. Army use: A parade square command in Malay (literally ‘go to the back and turn around’), meaning to turn around and march in the opposite direction. Civilian use: Running away or escaping from a situation. Example: When I discovered the girl I was dating was a control freak, I ke belakang pusing immediately.

kelam kabut /kə-lahm, Èk«lAm/ v. & a. [Mal. kelam murk, obscurity: not extreme darkness, only such darkness as makes vision difficult (Wilkinson); dull, overcast; dim (of sight); matt (of colour); befogged of thought (fikiran pun kelam) (Winstedt)] var. of Kalang Kabut.

kelong /kay-long, ÈkeIl�N/ n. & v. [Mal., large marine fish-trap with three or more compartments into which fish are hustled from the outer into the inmost and smallest, where the entrance is closed and the fish are caught; or poss. < Perak Mal. tikam kelong (of an elephant) to turn on its keeper (Winstedt): tikam stabbing, spearing, (of thorns) piercing. Dennys (see 1894 quot. below) suggests the word is of Chi. origin; if so, it is poss. related to Mand. 笼 lóng cage, coop; or lǒng envelop, cover]

[1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 135 Fishing Stakes.– Biat or Jermal in Malay. The Chinese word kelang has also passed into the vernacular. These consist of rattan screens arranged in such a way that the fish are driven into its enclosures, from which they cannot escape. Each enclosure is arrow-shaped, the last being the narrowest.]

A n. Cheating, fraud, unfair dealing, spec. the fixing or rigging of a sports event (esp. a soccer match).  B v. 1 Manipulate or fix the result of a sports event (esp. a soccer match), rig a competition.  2 Deliberately lose a game, etc.
A 2001 Jeffrey Low The Straits Times, 9 April, S4 Were two blackouts in the same night mere coincidence, or were we seeing shades of ‘kelong’ (match-fixing)?  2004 Karl Ho The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 13 June, L6 Kelong. Malay word to describe a hut on stilts in the sea used by fishermen. Generally refers to cheating or corruption in a game. The analogy goes that just as fish escape a broken net, so will a bribed goalkeeper concede goals. Usage: ‘Oi, how can France lose 10-0 to Latvia? Confirm kelong one!’  L7 Of course there’s kelong (cheating). Wherever there’s multi-million dollars involved, there’ll always be kelong.  2006 Faith Teo The Electric New Paper, 11 June. Tune in to RTM1.. today and you will see a shaky, grainy picture with a crawler apologising for the distortion.. The shaky pictures are from Radio Television Malaysia 1 (RTM 1). This started happening just three days before the start of the World Cup last night. .. Singapore viewers cried foul, complaining on Internet forums of ‘kelong’. They felt they were being robbed of watching World Cup matches for free.  2007 Tan Yo-Hinn Today (from Todayonline.com), 4 January. The price of kelong? $200, allegedly [title].. Goalkeeper Zulkifli Zainolabidin said in court yesterday that former Malaysia national football coach Chow Kwai Lam.. had offered him between $200 and $300 – on top of an undisclosed bonus – to let in two or three goals in an S-League match in 2005.  B 1 2002 Philip Allen (quoting R Vengadasalam) The Straits Times, 2 March, S4 He said the team was kelong, swore at me and then punched me twice – on the head then in the face.  2004 Marc Lim (quoting John Dykes) The Straits Times, 24 April, A18 We don’t look at a lop-sided game and go, ‘Wah, sure kelong’. We analyse the match, look at what went wrong.  2 2005 Marc Lim The Straits Times (Life!), 7 February, 6 “[K]elonging” (Singlish for deliberately losing) at my family’s Chinese New Year black jack sessions, especially when playing against my younger cousins.

kena /kə-nah, k«ÈnA/ v. [Mal., bring down upon, get or suffer something, affected by, forced to]  Befall, experience, happen to, occur to, esp. be selected for an undesired or unpleasant task or responsibility.
¶ Opposite of Keoh Teoh.
1987 Toh Paik Choo On the Buses 67 I sure kena goreng.  1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 kena – caught out (eg kena die).  1994 C S Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 90 If I kena whack, I’ll still rely on your Shaolin wushu to help me.  94 Alamak, medic kena whack!  137 kena. To be awarded or saddled with something bad.  2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 23 November, 9 As if Singapore got a lot of roads. Basket, drive 10 m, kenna hump already.  2003 Peh Shing Huei (quoting Mervyn Koh) The Sunday Times, 12 October, 32 [J]ust because their friend kena, they wanted to revolt.  2003 Teo Hwee Nak & Lee Ching Wern (quoting Low Thia Khiang) Today, 17 October, 2 We have also been through training and we all kena tekan (were bullied)..  2003 Tracy Quek & Irena Joseob The Sunday Times, 19 October, 14 [title] ‘Kena tekan.. but survival tra