liao

See also: Liao, liáo, liào, liāo, and liǎo

English

Alternative forms

• leow

Etymology

Borrowed from Hokkien 了 (liáu) or Teochew 了 (liao²). Tone and spelling influenced by Mandarin liǎo.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [ljaʊ˨˩]

Particle

liao

1. (Singlish, Manglish) Indicates perfective aspect (action completion) or change of state.

   Synonym: (Singlish, via semantic loan) already

   Print liao. ― I already printed it out.

   Lose liao. ― We’re going to lose / We have lost.

   No more liao. ― There’s no more left.

   They all sleep liao. ― They are all already asleep.

Related terms

• mai tu liao
• win liao lor

 

See also

• bo liao (unrelated etymologically)
• (Singlish particles): ah, hor, know, lah, leh, lor, mah, meh, one, sia, what

Anagrams

• Aloi, Oail

Mandarin

Romanization

liao

1. Nonstandard spelling of liāo.
2. Nonstandard spelling of liáo.
3. Nonstandard spelling of liǎo.
4. Nonstandard spelling of liào.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.