pok kai
/ˈpɔk̚ kai/
"pok-kai" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pok kai” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having no money; broke; bankrupt.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pok-kai · pok kai · English
pok kai · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" 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 | pok kai |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpɔk̚ kai/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pok kai” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pok kai is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpɔk̚ kai/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Having no money; broke; bankrupt.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pok kai, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Cantonese 仆街 (puk1 gaai1, “fall onto street, drop dead, go to hell, [Singapore, Malaysia] to have no money)”), from 仆 (puk1, “fall”) + 街 (gaai1, “street”). The correct English form is pok kai, spelled P-O-K- -K-A-I.
Definition
- 1Having no money; broke; bankrupt.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pok kai appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Out shopping, child to parent. “Daddy I want this, daddy I want that.” Daddy, “Daddy pok kai awreddy^([sic]), ask your mummy.”
Today I went to Swensen's for dinner, even when I'm totally pok-gai.
Etymology
Cantonese 仆街 (puk1 gaai1, “fall onto street, drop dead, go to hell, [Singapore, Malaysia] to have no money)”), from 仆 (puk1, “fall”) + 街 (gaai1, “street”).
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.