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kaypoh

DEFINITION

  1. Derogatory term for a nosy person.
  2. A person who is meddlesome and loves to gossip.
  3. Used to describe a person who is nosy or meddlesome.

ETYMOLOGY

  • kay poh or ”鸡婆” originated from the Hokkien (Minnan) term “牙婆”. In the olden days, “牙婆” referred to women who were involved in human trafficking and helped court officials find concubines or hand servants.

SAMPLE SENTENCE

The entire road was closed for several hours, but the lorry came right through and parked illegally on the side of the road. An engineer who happened to be jogging by looked at the lorry driver with curiosity, which in turn irritated the driver who sounded his lorry’s horn. The engineer was so angered by the driver that he wanted to take a photo of the driver to report to the authorities. The driver scolded the engineer “kaypoh”, and the two started arguing on the street. Before leaving, the driver struck the engineer’s chest hard and the enraged engineer reported the incident to the police. (Lianhe Zaobao, 31/3/2019)

TERMS USED IN OTHER REGIONS

三姑六婆 (Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia)

RELATED INFORMATION

  1. The Malay term is kay poh, the Bahasa Indonesia term is spelt kepo, while the English phonetic is spelt kaypoh. All these terms are commonly used both in print and colloquially.