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saat /saht, sAùt/ a. [poss. < Mal. saat, sa’at period of time, hour, moment (Wilkinson) < Arab. ساىت sá‘at an hour; a space of time; a watch (Wehr)] Also sah-saat, sard, sud.  Cool, hip.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 saat/sah-saat – ‘cool’ in Hokkien.  2000 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 3 December 2000, P26 Singapore’s most popular Mandarin DJ is quite sud lah (absolutely charming).

sabo /sah-boh, ÈsAbo/ v. [< Eng. sabo(tage]  1 Do some intentional or careless act or omission that causes inconvenience, harm, etc., to others or leads to others being punished; spec. do something that exposes another’s faults, ignorance, misdeeds, etc.; show someone up.  2 Play a prank or practical joke.
1 1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 213 Arumugam firmly believes that he was ‘saboed’ by one of the two friends.  311 sabo. Comes from ‘sabotage’. If a soldier says that someone saboes him, he means that some sinister fellow is doing something to put him in jeopardy. Victims of sabo are either nasty people or witless paranoiacs.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Sabo. Short for sabotage; to make trouble for someone or to jeopardise his position.  1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 sabo – short form for sabotage (eg Must sabo him).  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 38 I loudly saboed the next joker into being the silly monkey when Pimple-Face called for suggestions.  65 Don’t cock-up and sabo me.  2002 Tan Shzr Ee (quoting Grace Shu) The Straits Times (Life!), 1 July, L10 I’ve been sabo-ed.

Comb: sabo king n.  One who frequently sabos others.  See King.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 172 Known among the MPs as the ‘sabo-king’, the RSM’s most conspicuous behaviour was positioning himself at the gate once a week and when a senior officer arrived, delivering a sharp, resounding ‘Morning SIR!’  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Sabo king. Unfriendly term for the poor guy who inadvertently gets his mates into trouble.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 24 Curses and complaints were frequently and intensely heaped upon the ‘sabo kings’ of the platoon.  137 sabo king. Someone who upsets plans.

sago gula melaka /say-goh goo-lə mə-lah-kə, ÈseIgo Èguùl« m«ÈlAùk«/ n. [Eng. sago + Gula Melaka]  A dessert consisting of sago pearls in coconut milk sweetened with Gula Melaka.
1947 P.C.B. Newington (foreword by A.J.H. Dempster, Assistant Food Controller of Perak) Good Food 1 And here I would like to add a request that in the next edition Mr Newington includes recipes for the ever-popular mahmee and “Gula Malacca” in the preparation of which most Europeans are quite ignorant.  2005 Kwen Ow Today, 7 March, 33 [D]esserts such as Malay kueh, sago with gula melaka, cheng tng, egg tarts, pandan chiffon cakes and almond cookies among others.  2005 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 7 August. [D]esserts like the sago gula melaka..

sah-saat /sah, sA/ a. [Mal. sa prefix implying unity, one; forming or constituting one; compare (dengan) sa-saat ini juga at the present time, at this very moment (Wilkinson)] var. of Saat.

sai kang /sı kahng, sÃI k|AN/ n. [Hk. shit work: 屎 sai excrement, faeces + 工 kang work; Mand. shǐ gōng]  An unpleasant job or task.  Compare Bag of Balls.

sai yong choi /sı yong choy, sÃI j�N tS�I/ n. [Cant. 西洋 sai yéung foreigners (sai western; foreign + yéung ocean; foreign) + 菜 ts‘oi edible plants, vegetables (Eitel); Mand. xīyáng cài: xīyáng the West, the Western world (xī west; Occidental, Western + yáng ocean; foreign) + cài vegetable, greens (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Nasturtum officinale, a perennial aquatic plant used as a vegetable with long stems and small leaves; watercress.
¶ Known in Hk. as sai eng chai (see quot. 1991).
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 47 Nasturtium officinale R. Br. (Cruciferae) (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (L.) Hayek) Water cress.. sai-yong-choi.. A much branched, leafy aquatic perennial herb. Stems are procumbent and root freely at nodes below. Leaves are lyrate-pinnate with 3–9 leaflets. It is more luxuriant and fleshy when grown in 12–15 cm deep swampy ground. .. In South East Asia, it is a vegetable always cooked in soup before consumption.

sakali /s(ə)-kah-lee, s(«)ÈkAliù/ adv. [< Mal. sa-kali all at one time, altogether; even though: sa prefix implying unity, one; forming or constituting one + kali time, occasion, instance (Wilkinson) < Skt. सकल sa-kala together with parts or portions; all, whole, entire < Skt. स sa a prefix substituted for saha, sam or sama, and when combined with nouns to form compound adjectives and adverbs yielding the senses ‘with’, ‘together with’, ‘along with’, ‘having’, ‘accompanied by’, ‘possessing’, ‘same’, ‘similar’, or translateable by the English adverbial affix ‘–ly’ (compare Skt. सह saha with, along with, together, together with; Skt. सम् sam (as a preposition or prefix to verbs and verbal derivatives) with, together with, along with, together; when prefixed to some roots and verbal derivatives sam intensifies the idea contained in the simple root, and may often be translated by ‘much’, ‘greatly’, ‘thoroughly’, ‘quite’, ‘very’, ‘well’; it may also express ‘completeness’, ‘perfection’, ‘beauty’, etc.; it is not unfrequently prefixed to nouns in the sense of sama, ‘same’, ‘like’, ‘similar’; Skt. सम sama even, level, flat, plain; same, equal; like, similar, like to; a match for; acting in the same way or with equal justice towards every one; indifferent, impartial, fair; free from emotion, unaffected by passion, unmoved; straight; upright, honest, just, temperate, good, virtuous; fit, convenient, suitable; not eminent, ordinary, common, low, mean, equally distant from all extremes; all, everyone; full complete; whole, entire) + Skt. कला kalā a small part of anything, any single part or portion of a whole but esp. a sixteenth part (Monier-Williams); compare Mal. sa-kali (ini) (this) once (Winstedt); sa-kali at one time, altogether; sa-kalipun although (Wilkinson); or poss. a corruption of Eng. suddenly] Also sekali.  Supposing, what if.
2003 Tan Shzr Ee (quoting Darrell Ee) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 21 December, L11 Sekali got two girlfriends, one long one short [hair] then you’re in trouble.  2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 2 January, L12 Hideto Tomabechi, a Yale and Carnegie Mellon-educated congnitive scientist, claims to have invented Rockmelon, a mobile phone ringtone that sends subliminal messages to listeners, causing their bodies to shift unconsciously in specific ways – in this case, to grow larger breasts. .. I actually think A*Star should faster call Tomabechi-san (but make sure he’s activated the right ringtone, sekali you, ahem, raise the wrong hopes)..

sakar /sah-kah, ˈsɑkɑː/ v.t. [< Mal. sakar sugar, specifically cane-sugar and as a symbol of great sweetness (Wilkinson); or < Hind. शकर śakar, शककर śakkar sugar; fig. sweet words (McGregor) < Pers. شڪر shakar sugar; sweet (Palmer); compare Arab. سكر sakira, sakar, sukr to sugar, sprinkle with sugar (something); to candy, preserve with sugar; Arab. سكر sukkar sugar (Wehr)]  Flatter, butter up.

salah /sah-lah, ÈsAlA/ a. [Mal., at fault, error, flaw, discrepancy; being out of place or going wrong]  Erroneous, incorrect, wrong.
2000 Jessica Tan (quoting Cynthia Koh) The Straits Times (Life!), 28 September, 7 Just stop me, just say salah salah (wrong wrong)!  2000 Samuel Lee The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 28 December, 6 Free of dents and scrapes so far, any wrong move or salah agar-ation will mar the car’s flawless paintwork.

sambal /sahm-bahl, ÈsAmbAl/ n. [Mal., cold condiments served with curries]  1 A sauce of Malay origin made with chillies.  2 A dish cooked with or containing sambal.
1  1817 Thomas Stamford Raffles The History of Java, vol. 1, 98 The most common seasoning.. is the lombok; triturated with salt, it is called sámbel.  1839 Thomas John Newbold Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, vol. 2, ch. 12, 178 The ordinary food of Malays.. is rice, and in times of scarcity, sago seasoned with a little salt fish, Blachang, the caviar of the East, made with acid fruits, &c., into a variety of condiments termed Sambals.  1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 337 Sambals. – This is the Malay name of certain relishes eaten with curry, and the list is, practically, almost inexhaustible. Those made with chilies are known as chabei besar or kechil, while many fish figure also, such as ikan sembilan, ikan jirehak, ikan mas, &c. Some twenty or thirty names might be given, but they are mostly of local [a]pplication, according to the place where the name is current.  1933 Leopold Ainsworth Confessions of a Planter in Malaya 145 The usual small side-dishes containing what are known as ‘sambals’, which consist of such things as fried ground nuts, shredded cucumber, burnt grated coconut, Bombay duck and red and green chillies.  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1009 sambal. Condiment eaten with curry. A gen. name for peppers, pickles, grated coconut or pineapple, salt fish, fish-roe, very salted eggs, very acid sliced fruits and other condiments eaten cold to give additional flavour to the curry and rice. Not to be confused with the condiments (rěmpah-rěmpah) cooked with the curry to spice it.]  1971 Leslie Charteris The Saint and the People Importers, ch. 3, 24 Order me some samosas, lamb curry, pilau rice, dhal, and all the sambals you can crowd on the table.  2000 Sylvia Tan The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 13 February, 7 [T]opped with fish or a piece of omelette and a dollop of sambal.  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Robert Godley) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 25 June. If you could open a restaurant, what food would you sell? / I've always dreamt of moving back to Toronto to open a stingray place. I think the trick is in the sambal. I haven’t asked the Newton Circus guys for their recipe, it’s sort of taboo, isn’t it? Once, they actually gave me banana leaves and sambal to take back to Toronto when I returned for a holiday.  2006 Chris Tan The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 1 October. Nasi lemak chilli is a simple sambal tumis (fried sambal) that can be adapted to suit different palates.  2  1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 234 Rice, salt fish, gulie, or curry, and sambal are the principal dishes found at a Malayan feast. .. Sambals are invariably used instead of curry with rice. The principal ingredient in a sambal is blachan, which is a condiment prepared from shrimps and small fish, to which is added a thousand articles of food, and these sambals are exceedingly palatable.  2000 Sylvia Tan The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 13 February, 7 The coconut rice would be eaten.. with kangkong sambal, otak-otak, ikan bilis sambal and cucumber.

Comb.:

sambal belacan n. [Mal.]  Sambal made with Belacan.
2001 David Kraal The Straits Times (Life!), 20 February, L6 Hot fluffy rice in the centre of the plate, sambal belacan on the side.  2001 Angela Ee The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 25 February, P11 I remember my startling discovery of sambal belacan at the age of three. It was traumatic initially, but when the fire subsided, I was seduced by the taste of the salty, pungent sea.  2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Straits Times (Life!) (from Straits Times Interactive), 6 March. The selection is largely Asian, including local dishes such as chicken buah keluak, prawns with sambal belacan, chicken rice and Indian rojak.  2006 Stephanie Yap (quoting Desmond Sim), The Straits Times (Life!) (from Straits Times Interactive), 20 November. I grew up in an extended Peranakan family in a big shophouse in Upper Serangoon. So, as a child, I just assumed that everybody’s grandmother wore the sarong kebaya, and had bottles of sambal belacan in their fridges.

sampai tua /sahm-pı tuuah, ÈsAmpÃI tUA/ n. & a. [Mal. sampai attaining to, reaching + Mal. tua aged, matured, old, senior (Wilkinson) < Hk. 大 tua big, large, great, eldest; Mand. dà]   A n. mil. slang  A soldier with no future of advancement in the armed forces; a condemned soldier.  B a. Of a soldier, employee, etc.: having no chances of advancement or promotion.  Compare Condemned 2.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 312 sampai tua. Until old age: Malay. Used in the SAF to mean ‘condemned’, or as a noun to mean a condemned soldier, a soldier who has no further scope for advancement or promotion; a regular.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Sampai tua (Malay). Until old age. Describes a soldier with no future of advancement in the army.

samseng /sahm-seng, ÈsAmsEN/ n. & a. [Mal. < Hk.; according to Gwee, Mand. 三 sān three + 牲 shēng domestic animal; animal sacrifice (Chi.–Eng. Dict.), poss. an allusion to a secret society ritual: see quot. 2006 below]

[2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 173 sam-seng [三牲] Baba-prayer sacrificial offering of a blanched pork, a whole duck and chicken]

A n. A hooligan, a gangster, a ruffian.  B a. Like a hooligan or ruffian: uncouth, unrefined.
A 1928 The Straits Times, 11 July, 2 [title] Samsengs fight after funeral.  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1013 samseng. Ch. [Chinese] Professional bully; rough  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 308 samseng, Ch. [Chinese], a rowdy; a rough.]  2003 Tan Shzr Ee The Sunday Times, 5 October, L2 Wandering among his favoured fluttering fauna, the samseng is turned into a gentle Francis of Assisi.  2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 17 October, L14 Many are surprised that cosmopolitans, foreign talents and even (Shock! Horror!) technopreneurs – all people we’ve been exhorted to emulate – have been caught with their noses not tilted towards the heavens and sniffing the rarefied air they inhabit, but rather bent over a table, snorting “pek hoon” like common samsengs.  2005 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 23 October. I had to stage a mock samseng-style brawl in the middle of Orchard Road to distract gawkers from peering into the camera as we were filming.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 173 samseng [三牲] ([Mal.] samseng) hoodlum; gangster]  B 2001 Magdalene Lum (quoting Pamela Oei) The Straits Times (Life!), 27 February, L8 I’m a samseng girl, my mother keeps telling me.  2003 Tan Shzr Ee The Sunday Times, 5 October, L2 [caption] Mr Teo’s samseng (gangster) looks belie his gentle ways with his feathered friends. .. Every day he sits, samseng-like in his glowing plumage in the dim shophouse, shaking one leg across the other knee.

Samsui chicken /sahm-suuee, ÈsAmsUI/ n. [< Cant. 三水 Samshui a region in Guangdong (Canton) Province in China: sám three + shui water (Eitel); Mand. sān three + shuǐ waters (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  See quot. 2003.
2003 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times, 5 October, L41 Long before there was Hainanese chicken rice, there was samsui chicken – healthy sustenance for hardy female construction workers from China. The chicken is steamed with just a few drops of soya sauce and sesame oil until the meat is tender and juicy. The samsui part comes from dipping it in ginger sauce and wrapping it in fresh lettuce. Samsui women believed ginger could help prevent colds and remove ‘wind’ from the body.

Samsui woman /sahm-suuee, ÈsAmsUI/ n. [see preceding] hist.  A female immigrant to Singapore originating from Samsui who worked as a labourer, particularly in building construction, and was usu. dressed in a distinctive red cloth cap and blue or grey samfoo (long-sleeved blouse and trousers).
2003 Tan Shzr Ee The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 14 December, L2 Madam Cheong, 89, and Madam Wong, 84, are two of the last dozen Samsui women still alive in Singapore. When they were in their late teens during the 1930s, they individually snuck out from their native Samsui in Guangdong province into Hong Kong, where they then boarded a boat for Singapore. Through World War II up till the 1980s, a few hundred of these women, then based in Chinatown, worked in construction sites alongside brawny men. Every day, they carried baskets of rubble and soil balanced on both ends of a precarious rod perched upon their shoulders. .. In the early days, they wore their distinctive red headgear and hand-stitched samfoos to work. But, as Madam Wong confesses, these days, Samsui women only don their hats ‘for special occasions’ – award ceremonies, TV shows and press interviews.  2005 Krist Boo The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 28 July. Wave, it’s the Samsui women.. When the first float rolls out at the Padang on National Day, there won’t be young beauty queens waving from the top but rather, two wrinkled women in their 70s. They will be clad in black silk samfoo, the traditional Chinese outfit. On their heads will be the stiff red scarves – tied like rectangular boxes – that shielded their hair from the grime of the construction sites on which they once toiled. The pair, Madam Li Yan Ling, 73, and Madam Wu Yen Xing, 74, are samsui women. .. They have been chosen, said the parade organisers, for being ‘pioneers’ who helped build some of Singapore's most important buildings and roads. .. Born here to mothers who were themselves samsui migrants from China, the two began work on construction sites by the time they were 12. Toiling alongside men, they cleared the forests and laid the roads of Bukit Timah and Redhill. Speaking in Cantonese, Madam Wu said: ‘Because we were very young, our salary was one banana note a day. We had to use sickles to clear the forest, and that could weigh up to 10kg.’ .. ‘Our ration was one milk can of rice each. When that was not enough, we mixed it with tapioca and nuts. The bread was as hard as stone. You could hit it against the floor and nothing would happen,’ [said Madam Li].

santan /sahn-tahn, ÈsAntAn/ n. [Mal.]  A thick, creamy, white liquid with a high fat content that is obtained from pressing shredded coconut flesh, much used in Malay cooking as a base for sauces and in desserts; coconut milk, coconut cream.
1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 338 Santan. – The scraped-up kernel of cocoa-nut, used in curries, &c.  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1019 santan. Soft milky pulp of the coconut, much used in cooking and a type of richness.]

sapu /sah-poo, ÈsApuù/ v. [Mal., sweep, wipe, clean or dry something by rubbing; compare tersapu swept, cleared, wiped out, destroyed completely]  1 Remove, steal, take without permission.  2 Of food, a meal, etc.: finish completely.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1021 sapu. .. Brushing lightly over anything. Used of sweeping a room.. fig. for «cleaning out» or «breaking the bank» at a Chinese gaming house (měnyapu pajak).  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 311 sapu, .. měnyapu wipe on (paint, ointment), stroke, wipe (eyes, nose, mouth), wipe off (dirt, sweat, tears), sweep (floor), sweep away (an army); .. těrsapu wiped (on, off, away)..]  2 2004 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Moses Lim) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 6 June, L31 I liked to sapu (eat up) everything.

sarabat stall /sah-rah-baht, ÈsArAbAt/ n. [origin unkn., poss. < Arab. sarba a drink, sariba to drink (NMS); or poss. < Mal. sarapan lining; early meal; menyarap line (with leaves, cloth); eat in the early morning, give one’s belly a lining (Winstedt) < Ind. sarapan bottom layer; to have breakfast; Ind. sarap to put in a bottom layer; to have breakfast (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng.); or < Jav. sarapan (to eat) breakfast; Jav. disarap, jsarap (coarse) to eat (something, esp. for breakfast) (Horne)]  A stall, traditionally Malay-owned, selling drinks such as coffee and tea, and occasionally food as well.
2006 Wong Kim Hoh The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 29 January. When he was a young lawyer more than 30 years ago, Mr Harry Elias represented a man who was involved in a gang fight at a sarabat stall in Sembawang.  2006 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 30 July, L26 Indian rojak is a Singaporean invention, dreamt up at sarabat stalls in Waterloo Street in the 1960s.

sard var. of Saat.

sarong party girl n. /sah-rong, ÈsAr�N/ [Mal. sarong sheath, covering (see quot. 1955 below), prob. < Skt. सारङ sāranga a variegated colour; a garment, cloth, cloths; prob. < Skt. अरङ a-ranga having colour; compare Skt. शारङ śāranga of a variegated colour, spotted, dappled < Skt. शार śāra variegated (of colour), of different colours (as dark hair mixed with grey), mottled, spotted; variegating; a variegated colour < Skt. शरी śrī to mix, mingle (Monier-Williams) + Eng. party girl a (young) woman who is a keen and frequent party-goer; (hence) one with a hedonistic lifestyle]

[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1024 sarong.. Sheath; covering. .. Kain sarong: «sarong»; the typical Malay long kilt or skirt. Usually explained as sarong (sheath, wrapper), but the garment is in use in Ceylon where it is known as saran; Yule derives the word from Singhalese. Malays rarely use the word; a sarong is kain in Malaya and samping or jarit in Java.]

Also abbrev. to SPG. derog.  A local (Chinese, Indian, Malay, etc.) woman who behaves and dresses provocatively, perh. originally in a sarong, and goes to parties, pubs, etc., to meet and form relationships with Caucasian men.
2000 Yeow Kai Chai The Straits Times (Life!), 5 September, 7 Ang Moh expats with their skimpily-clad SPG appendages.  2001 Michelle Ho The Sunday Times (Sunday Plus), 14 January, P7 Branded SPGs (Sarong Party Girls) because of their conspicuous lack of attire and aggressive approach to white men.  2003 Arti Mulchand The Straits Times (Life!), 4 November, L4 [T]he infamous Sarong Party Girls – boon to Caucasian men who want to sow their wild oats in Asia, and bane to single, white females who find themselves in the midst of the ang mo’s Asian playground. .. SPGs don’t even care what a man looks like, as long as he’s white.  2003 Ian De Cotta Today, 12 December, 39 Not too long ago, another Singaporean wrote that sarong party girls, better known as ‘SPGs’, who crave white men of any shape, size or intellect, are different from the educated Singapore woman, such as herself, whose penchant for ang moh men is restricted only to those who admire women for their ‘brains’ .. What balderdash! Both types of women fall into the classical definition of an SPG, which is an Asian woman who is hopelessly infatuated with white men only. And whichever way you turn the coin, both are SPGs who suffer from the Pinkerton Syndrome.  2006 Melissa Loh The Straits Times (Digital Life), 8 August, 6 “My boyfriend is Australian,” said Ms Loh. “Call me an SPG [Sarong Party Girl] and I will kill you.” .. “When he moved here after graduation, we got a couple of stares and people who didn’t know me before we got together asked me if I was a Sarong Party Girl. .. [The term conjures] a mental image of a long-haired, scantily-clad money-grubbing Asian wannabe tai-tai, who exclusively dates Caucasians. .. To me, this slang is insulting and bigoted, since I’d like to think I’m an equal opportunity dater, with regards to race. ..”

satay /sah-tay, ÈsAteI/ n. [Mal. satai, sate (Winstedt); Ind., Jav. saté, according to NMS < Tam. சதை catai flesh; pulpy part of fruit < தசை tacai flesh, muscle: one of the seven தாது tātu or constituent parts of the body; (colloq.) pulp or fleshy part of a fruit (Tam. Lex.); compare Skt. तवच् tvać skin (as of men, serpents. etc.); hide (as of a goat, cow, etc.); bark, rind, peel; any surface or covering (as turf of the earth) (Monier-Williams); or poss. < Hk. 三 sⁿa (colloq.) three times, thrice repeated (or 丳 sán skewers, or a spit, used in roasting meat) + 块 tēy (colloq.) a lump of anything (Medhurst); Mand. sān three (or chǎn (literary language) skewer, slips or sticks used to roast meat (Comp. Chi.–Eng. Dict.); a spit with meat on it (Giles)) + kuài piece, lump, chunk (Comp. Chi.–Eng. Dict.) (see quots. 1934, 2001)]  A Malay dish consisting of barbequed pieces of meat (usu. beef, chicken or mutton) on wooden skewers (Satay Sticks), often served with Satay Sauce, Ketupat and sliced cucumber and raw onions.
1934 Alfred Charles Willis Willis’s Singapore Guide 149 ‘Satai’ I am given to understand was introduced into this Country by the Chinese, the word being spelt ‘Satae’, meaning three pieces of meat.  1955 Patrick Anderson Snake Wine, vol. II, ch. 6, 163 The Malays crouch over their portable stoves, fanning the embers below sticks of spicy broiled goat known as satay.  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1026 sate. Jav. [Javanese] Pieces of flesh or fish roasted on a skewer, = kěbab. Also sěsate. Commonly sold by hawkers; mentioned Sid. Rama [Hikajat Siddha Rama (Batavia: Balai Poestaka)] 176; illd. [illustrated] May. [Mayer] i 213.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 312 satai, sate, (satir, In. [Indonesian], Jo. [Johor Mal.]), Tam. [Tamil], cabobs served on a skewer.]  1971 Singapore Tourist Promotion Board Carry Singapore in Your Pocket 30 One of the most famous Malay dishes is satay which is tenderised and spiced mutton, chicken or beef barbecued over charcoal and dipped in a chilli-hot peanut sauce. They are served skewered.  2000 Arlina Arshad The Straits Times, 27 December, H8 Ketupat, or rice cakes, satay, lontong, rendang (meat), sambal goreng (mixed vegetables) and serunding (spiced grated coconut) are typical dishes served on this day [Hari Raya Puasa].  2001 David Kraal The Straits Times (Life!), 2 October, L4 Old-time Chinese traders would skewer three pieces of meat on a stick and marinate them in brine during their sea trips. When they got to Malacca, they would barbeque the meat over hot coals. The Malays looked on and asked what it was called. The Chinese would say, ‘Sa-the’ meaning three-stick; three bits of meat on a stick.

Comb.:

satay beehoon /bee-hoon, biùÈhUn/ n. [Hk. 米粉 beehoon rice vermicelli: bee rice + hoon noodles, vermicelli; Mand. mĭfĕn]  Beehoon fried with pieces of beancurd, Sotong, pork, Kangkong, etc., and topped with Satay Sauce.
2005 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 31 July. Meng Kee Satay Bee Hoon .. No other stall comes close to offering a satay gravy that is as smooth or tasty – it boasts more than 30 herbs and spices and takes three hours to cook. Accompanying ingredients like pork, prawns, cuttlefish, kangkong and beansprouts are also perfectly prepared and presented.

satay celup /chə-lohp, tS«Èl«Up/ n. [Mal. celup steep, soak, dye; of dipping bread in gravy (Wilkinson)]  A Peranakan variation of Steamboat, where raw food is cooked at the table by being dipped into boiling Satay Sauce.

satay sauce n. [Eng.]  A sauce that satay is traditionally served with for dipping. It consists of a spicy gravy made with ground peanuts, occasionally with grated pineapple added to it.

satay stick n. [Eng.]  A skewer of bamboo or other wood, sharpened at one end, used to hold the meat in a stick of satay during cooking and for eating.

save face v. phr. [poss. Eng. transl. of Mand. 救面 jìumiàn: jìu rescue, save, salvage + miàn face; reputation, prestige (Chi.–Eng. Dict.): see Face; according to OED, originally used by the English community in China, with reference to the continual devices among the Chinese to avoid incurring or inflicting disgrace]  Act in a way to preserve or rescue the reputation or self-respect of oneself or another person; save one’s face, save another’s face.
[1898 Westminster Gazette, 5 April, 5, col. 1 Unquestionably the process of saving one’s face leads to curious results in other countries than China.  1900 The Daily News, 25 June, 4, col. 5 The communiqué in the Russian ‘Official Messenger’ provides the necessary formula by the adoption of which the Chinese Government can save its face.]  2001 Neil Humphreys Notes from an Even Smaller Island 144 As I had confronted him in front of his wife and children, the guy was ‘saving face’ and refused to put the branch down. With my little sister and her husband watching, I was childishly doing the same thing.  2007 Carmen Teoh-Tang Today (from Todayonline.com), 5 January. Don’t give them ‘face’ [title] When I’m standing obediently in line, it is frustrating to have someone skip past me to the cashier. .. I think Singaporeans need to be told off when caught in the act; since we all love to “save face” in public, this method works best.

sayang /sı-yahng, ÈsÃIjAN/ n., v. & a. [Mal., pining, longing, pitying, love, affection, it were a pity, alas that (Wilkinson)]  A n. (A term of endearment for one’s) loved one: darling, sweetheart.  B v. 1 Be fond of.  2 Regret, feel something to be a pity or shame.  3 Assuage, pacify, soothe.  C a. Pitiful, regrettable, esp. because some opportunity or thing has been wasted. 
A 2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 22 August, L14 ‘Yes, sayang,’ she said, patting my back sympathetically.  B 1 [1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 313 sayang.. affection (of parents, lovers)..]  2 [1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 313 sayang.. to regret, feel (something) a pity..]  2005 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Abdul Hamid Adam) The Sunday Times, 27 March, L26 In five days’ time, Indian-style curry puffs baked the traditional way.. will become part of Singapore’s culinary history. They are baked in the last remaining stone oven in Hup Hin bakery at 4 Joo Chiat Lane. On Friday afternoon, the 73-year-old oven will take its last fiery breath when the bakery closes for good. .. Stuffed with mutton, chicken or potato curry filling, stone-oven baked puffs are amazingly flaky, textured like many layers of potato crisps. “That’s why I very sayang this place,” says Mr Hamid (sayang means “fond of” in Malay).  3 2005 Teo Cheng Wee (quoting Rima Melati-Adams) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 18 December, L15 We’ve had to sayang (Malay for soothe) her [our cat] a lot to try and get her back on our good side.  C 2001 K.C. Vijayan (quoting Johnny Tan) The Straits Times, 27 December, 4 People want to save these sayang items because they don’t want to see them go to waste.  2004 Glenys Sim (quoting Nasri Ahmad) The Straits Times, 17 May, H5 [T]he singer’s downfall was ‘so sayang’ (such a waste)..

sayur lodeh /sı-yoor loh-day, ÈsÃIjuùr ÈlodeI/ n. [Mal., mixed vegetables cooked to pulp (Winstedt): sayur vegetables (Winstedt) + lodeh boiled, soft, pulpy (Wilkinson); compare Ind. sajur lodéh vegetable soup in coconut milk: sajur vegetable; a vegetable soup + lodéh pulpy (of vegetables) (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng.); Jav. sajur vegetable(s) + loḍèh a coconut-milk vegetable soup with red peppers (Horne)]  An Indonesian or Malay dish consisting of vegetables such as cabbage, carrot, etc., cooked in coconut milk.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 699 lodeh. Boiled soft; pulpy. .. Sayur l.: mixed vegetables boiled soft, spiced and flavoured with condiments, then beaten up into a pulpy mass.  1029 sayur. Green food; edible vegetables. .. S. lodeh: mixed vegetables boiled to pulpiness.]  2006 Fiona Chan (quoting Tan-Wee Wei Ling) The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 11 June. [L]earning how to cook things like nasi padang, rendang, and sayur lodeh..

score point, score points /often poyn, p�In/ v. phr. [prob. < Eng. score points off, score off < Eng. score of a player or competitor: to add (so many points) to one’s score; also said of an incident in the game: to count for (so many points) in a player’s score (OED)]  Gain a triumph or someone’s favour, or make a point, esp. at the expense of somebody else; score points off, score off.

screw v. [poss. < Eng. screw v. extort by pressure; put compulsion upon, constrain, oppress; copulate with, have sexual intercourse with (someone)]  Shout at, scold, verbally abuse.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 312 screw upside down. When a soldier is ‘screwed upside down’, it means that he is reprimanded very severely and could possibly be in very hot soup. A variation is ‘screw inside-out’ – both allusions to impossible sexual feats.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Screw upside down.. To be punished or reprimanded severely.

Phrases: screw inside-out, screw upside-down.

sedap /sə-dahp, s«ÈdAp|/ a. [Mal., pleasant, nice, tasty, agreeable (Wilkinson); Johor & Penang Mal., delicious (to taste, touch, ears, vision, mind), comfortable (Winstedt)]  often Mal. slang  Delicious, scrumptious, tasty, yummy.
2006 Eveline Gan Weekend Today, 22–23 July, 23 Enormous chunks of tender beef topped with dessicated spiced coconut melted in our mouths – so sedap, how could we stay peeved?

see first v. phr. [Eng.]  Wait and see what happens; we’ll see.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 see first – to wait and see what happens (usually said before committing oneself to a project).

see how v. phr. [Eng.]  See First.

see peh /see bay, siù beI/ prefix [Hk. 死 see dead + 爸 peh father; Mand. sĭ bà]  Used to intensify the meaning of other words and phrases.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 50 Si peh (Hokkien). Literally, dead father; the ultimate. Used as prefix to place emphasis on description. E.g., si peh ngeow.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 61 Moody faces and roaring exclamations of ‘Si peh xiong!’ and ‘Si peh suay!’

Comb.:

see peh kiam /gium, gIÃm/ a. phr. [Hk. kiam stingy]  Very stingy, most unwilling to spend money on another person.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 312 si pe kiam. Utterly stingy. Applied to an officer who feels too pained to part with his money to buy lunch for his driver who has to drive him about in a SAF vehicle during the lunch hour. Obviously, the officer is on an ‘economy drive’: Hokkien.

see peh sian /sien, sIEn/ a. phr.  Very Sian.

see peh siong /siong, si�N/ a. phr. [Hk. 伤 siong injure, hurt; Mand. 伤 shāng; or poss. Mand. 凶 xiōng fierce, ferocious, terrible, fearful]  Extremely Siong.
1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 61 Moody faces and roaring exclamations of ‘Si peh xiong!’ and ‘Si peh suay!’  139 si peh xiong. Very tough or taxing.

see peh suay /suuay, suùeI/ a. phr.  Very Suay.

see (you, him, etc.) small v. phr. [Eng.]  Take pity on a person or let a person off because that person is smaller in build, weaker, etc., than oneself.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 see you small – to take pity on someone because he is smaller than yourself.

sei /say, seI/ a. [Hk.]  Steady.
2001 Ng Sue Ling The Straits Times (Life!), 16 June, L8 In my very Western-oriented junior college, the coolest slang word was ‘sei’, which means ‘steady’ in Hokkien.

sekali var. of Sakali.

selaseh, selasih /sə-lah-sə, -se, s«ÈlAs«, -sE/ n. [Mal. < Skt. तुलसी tulasī, तुलिसका tulasikā holy basil, a small shrub (Ocymum sanctum) said to have been produced from the hair of the goddess Tulasī and held in veneration by the worshippers of Vishnụ (Monier-Williams)]  The common or sweet basil (Ocymum basilicum); its edible fruit, the pulp of which consists of tiny black seeds each surrounded by transparent flesh, often used as an ingredient in desserts.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1043 sělaseh.. Basil, Ocimum spp.; varieties are: O. basilicum (sweet basil, s. [selaseh] puteh); O. gratissimum (s. jambi); O. sanctum (s. kěmangi).]

selekeh /se-lə-ke, sEl«ÈkE/ a. [Johor & Penang Mal. selekeh, berselekeh smeared with sticky dirt (as clothes, dishes, face) (Winstedt)]  Messy, unkempt, untidy.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 312 selekeh. To describe a soldier whose turnout is really bad: Malay.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Selekeh (Malay). Sloppy or untidy.

sell (one’s) backside v. phr. [Eng.]  Allow a man to perform anal intercourse (on oneself) in exchange for payment, be a male prostitute.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 166 Mark had to resort to.. ‘selling his backside’ at a fashionable Orchard Road hotel in order to get enough money to buy his drugs. 

senang /sə-nahng, Ès«nAN/ a. [Mal., easy (of work); at leisure (of persons); comfortable, well-to-do (Winstedt)]  Of a job, work, etc.: easy, relaxed.  Compare Switch Off.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1065 sěnang. Ease; restfulness. .. Also of a thing requiring little effort: sěnang měnipu dia (he is easily taken in); Sing. Terb. [Shaer Singapura Tebakar (Singapore)] 23.]

senget /seng-et, ÈsENEt/ a. [Mal., slanting, sloping, tilted, listing]  Crooked; untidy.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1068 senget.. Heeling over.. S.[Senget]-menget: uneven.  761 Senget-menget: inclining, now to this side now to that.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 323 senget (těr[senget]), aslant (as a deck); s.-menget slanting in every direction (as a ship or plates on a tray)..]  1991 The Straits Times (Life!), 26 March What do you dislike about your appearance? My hair. It’s very difficult to maintain and when it’s too long it becomes senget (untidy).

seow /siow, sIaU/ a. [Hk., crazy; Mand. 傻 shă stupid, muddleheaded] Also siow. joc.  Crazy, mad.
2005 Irene Ang The Electric New Paper, 17 June. Marie-France wanted me to change my image to more of a career woman than the usual ‘siao siao’ (crazy) image. Off work, I’m still my usual casual self.  2006 Tay Cheng Khoon (quoting Remy Ong) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 3 December, 36 Xiao one, lah, .. Where got this type of score?

Comb:

seow cha bor /tzah bor, tzɑ bɒ/ n. phr. [Hk. 查某 cha bor woman (Chi. characters are according to Gwee: see 2006 quot. below)]

[2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 52 cha bo [查某] female]

derog.  A female person who is perceived to behave in an erratic manner.
2004 Tay Yek Keak The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 20–22 August, 9 There are hardcore Alien, Predator, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, X-Men, Spider-Man, Wolf Man, Batman mad men and seow char bor (Hokkien for crazy women) who spend a lot of time and money pretending to be their heroes.

seow eh /ay, eI/ n. phr. [Hk. eh one] mil. slang  One’s partner or buddy in an army unit.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 49 Seow eh (Hokkien) Mad one. Term of endearment for buddy.

seow on a. phr. [Eng.]  Be very On.
1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 59 I think your platoon is siow on. .. You have actually gone through one of the worst shit.  67 Why bother to be so siow on when life is so easy?  139 siow on. Ridiculously active.

seow peng see entry under Peng.

Serani /sə-rah-nee, s«ÈrAniù/ n. [Mal., Nazarene; Roman Catholic; an Indo-Portuguese (Catholic) Eurasian (Winstedt); compare Ind. nasarani, Jav. Nasrani Christian (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng., Horne) < Arab. نصراني naṣrānī Christian (Wehr); نصران nasrān A Christian, Nazarene; name of a town in Syria; نصرانيٌ nasrānīy a Christian; belonging to Christianity (a word not used by Christians) (Johnson) < Syriac nāṣrāyā < Aramaic nāṣrāyā (a.), nāṣrāṯ Nazareth, name of the town in Galilee (once in ancient Palestine, now in Israel) which was the home of Jesus Christ (OED)]

[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1081 Sěrani. [Ar[abic] nasrani] Nazarene; Christian; esp. Catholic. Etym. = Christian; and, as such, applied to the first Christians who visited Indonesia, i.e. the Catholic Portuguese. Protestants drew a distinction by calling themselves masehi and by national names; so that sěrani has come to be limited to Catholics, esp. to Portuguese.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 327 Sěrani, Nasrani, Ar[abic], Nazarene; Roman Catholic; an Indo-Portuguese, (Catholic) Eurasian.]

A Eurasian person.  Compare Grago.

serimuka /s(ə)ri-muu-kə, Çs(«)riÈmUk«/ n. [Mal., “light of the countenance” (Wilkinson); a charming face: Mal. 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. muka face, countenance (Winstedt) < Skt. मुख mukha the mouth; the face, countenance (Monier-Williams)] Also seri muka.  A two-layered Malay cake, the lower layer consisting of sweetened glutinous rice and the upper layer of a green-coloured custard flavoured with pandan leaves.  Also known as Putri Salat.
2005 The Star (from The Star Online), 26 October. Kuih Seri Muka is a sweet delicacy. Its top layer of green custard is made from coconut milk while the bottom layer is of steamed glutinous rice.

shack, shacked /shak(d), Sak