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keng ka liau

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:

keng ka liau keng kah liao keng kah liau

keng ka liao

Singlish:

keng

+

Hokkien:

poj:

kah

+

poj:

liáu

expand for details Detailed etymology

definitions

adjective

  1. malingering at every opportunity; feigning sickness or injury to no end
  2. There's this guy in my reservists battalion who everyone calls Mr. Keng Ka Liao. I don't even know his real name, but it can't possibly fit him better than that.

    synonyms:

  3. (by extension) constantly trying to shirk work or responsibility
  4. synonyms:


verb

  1. to malinger at every opportunity; to feign sickness or injury all the way
  2. Because of his bad hip, Galvin managed to keng ka liao through all of SCS, eventually landing a cushy office role as an S2 spec after he down-PESed.

    synonyms:

  3. (by extension) to entirely shirk work or responsibility, or attempt to do so at every opportunity

usage notes

Functionally the verb or adjective equivalent of a keng king.