Commonly found variants; note these may range from acceptable alternatives to non-standard forms or incorrect spellings*.
* Singlish is a largely spoken creole, and as such descriptivism (recording forms that reflect actual pronunciation in spoken language, or as appearing in the linguistic corpus) is more pertinent than strict prescriptivism. Nevertheless, the use of more standard forms (or for words originating in languages with Latin script, such as Malay, accurate to the original spelling) is recommended and encouraged.

also can:

buey hiao buay hiau buey hiau be hiao be hiau buay heow buey heow

buay hiao

Hokkien:

𫧃晓

poj:

bōe-hiáu / bē-hiáu

expand for details Detailed etymology

definitions

verb

  1. to not know (how to); to be unable to (for lack of knowledge or having learned to do so)
  2. Since many foreigners buay hiao proper Singlish, it's easy to pick them out when they try to chin chai whack one awkward 'lah' or 'leh' in their sentences.

    antonyms:



entries starting with

'buay hiao'