kiasi
/ˌkjɑːˈsiː/
"kiasi" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kiasi” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-kiasi · kiasi · English
kiasi · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "K" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kiasi |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌkjɑːˈsiː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “kiasi” in English
Rare enough to double-check
kiasi is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌkjɑːˈsiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.".
kiasi doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hokkien 驚死／惊死 (kiaⁿ-sí, “afraid to die”). The correct English form is kiasi, spelled K-I-A-S-I.
Definition
- 1Unwilling to take a risk for fear that something bad or unfavorable will happen; cowardly, overly cautious and risk-averse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how kiasi appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Why are you so kiasi? You won't die from getting a small cut on the finger.
If everyone dares to bungee jump, why can't you do the same? Are you kiasi or what?
Etymology
Borrowed from Hokkien 驚死／惊死 (kiaⁿ-sí, “afraid to die”).
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.