kan cheong

English

Etymology

From Singaporean Hokkien 緊張／紧张 (kán-chiong, “nervous; stressed”), from Cantonese 緊張／紧张 (gan² zoeng¹).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [ˌkän˧ ˈt͡ʃjɔŋ˦], [- ˈt͡ɕj-]

Adjective

kan cheong (comparative more kan cheong, superlative most kan cheong)

1. (Singlish, Manglish) Nervous, anxious, keyed up
   • 2002 August 13, Michelle Ho, quoting Diana Liaw, The Straits Times, Singapore, page L8:

     I was so ‘kancheong’ (Cantonese for worried) about his tests that I woke him up at 5:30 am to remind him not to make mistakes.

   • 2008 November 2, Colin Goh, The Sunday Times, Singapore, page 14:

     I wasn’t always this kan cheong about elections.

   • 2004, The Void Deck, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):

     […] they will just become more kan cheong and think that all the mata and SCDF kena nuked or something […]