View source for Kiasi

{{Short description|Hokkien phrase meaning "afraid of death"}}
{{confuse|Kiasu}}
{{no footnotes|date=July 2013}}
{{wiktionarypar|kiasi}}
{{Infobox Hokkien name
| title      =Kiasi
| hanji      =驚死 / 惊死
| poj        =kiaⁿ-sí
| tl         =kiann-sí
| bp         =
| hokkienipa =
| context    =
| image      =
| caption    =
}}
'''''Kiasi''''' ({{zh|t=驚死|s=惊死|poj=kiaⁿ-sí}}) is a [[Min Nan|Hokkien]] phrase which literally means ''[[Death anxiety|afraid of death]]'',  to describe the attitude of being overly afraid or timid. '''Kiasi''' is commonly compared to '''[[Kiasu]]''' (literally: “fear of losing”); both are commonly used to describe attitudes where '''Kiasi''' or '''Kiasi-ism''' means to take extreme measures to avoid risk and '''[[Kiasu]]''' or '''[[Kiasu|Kiasu-ism]]''' means to take extreme means to achieve success. ''Kiasi'' is not as popular as ''[[kiasu]]'', but is widely used by Hokkien-speaking people in [[Singapore]], [[Malaysia]] and [[Taiwan]].
==Etymology and usage==
The history of ''kiasi'' can be traced back to the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] idiom "Greedy for life, afraid of death" ({{zh|t=貪生怕死|p=tān shēng pà sǐ}}), which describes a person's extreme fear of death, and may drive a person to lose his sense of justice and righteousness. The idiom was originally applied to cowardly soldiers on the battlefield. In modern usage, it refers to people who are irrationally frightful to undertake any task.
==In popular culture==
* ''Kiasu, Kiasi : You Think What?'' (Paperback, 160 pages) by [[David Leo]]. {{ISBN|981-204-626-7}}
==See also==
* [[Kiasu]]
* [[Chengyu]]
* [[Strawberry generation]]
==External links==
* [http://www.talkingcock.com/html/lexec.php?op=LexLink&lexicon=lexicon&keyword=KIASI Definition from www.talkingcock.com]
* [http://www.singlishdictionary.com/singlish_K.htm see: '''kiasi''' from ''A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English'']
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[[Category:Culture of Singapore]]
[[Category:Culture of Malaysia]]
[[Category:Southern Min words and phrases]]
[[Category:Singlish]]