liao

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

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Hokkien 了 (liáu) and Teochew 了 (liao²), with tone and spelling influenced by Mandarin 了 (liǎo) and its romanization in Hanyu Pinyin.

Alternative forms

• leow, (in set phrases) lo, loh

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [ljaʊ˨˩], (interrogative) [ljaʊ˨], (in fixed expressions from Hokkien) [ljaʊ˦˨]

Particle

liao

2. (Singlish, Manglish) Indicates action completion, or more generally, perfective aspect.

   Synonym: (Singlish, via semantic loan) already

   I run 4 laps liao. ― I just ran 4 laps.

   You decorate the cake liao? ― Have you decorated the cake yet?

   I’ve been working for six months liao. ― I’ve been working for six months already.

4. (Singlish, Manglish) Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect (see usage notes).

   Synonym: (Singlish, via semantic loan) already

   It’s going to rain liao. ― It’s going to start raining soon.

   Reach liao, give me a call. ― Give me a call when you’ve reached.

   Damn shag liao, need to go back and sleep. ― I’m really tired now, I need to go back and sleep.

   • 2007 November 27, stevengoh, “No More 2nd Time – Super Hokkien Mee, One Corner Cafe”, in stevengoh.com:

     It was a weekday and I asked for a bowl of hokkien mee. The old lady told me “No more liao, you came too late”. Ok fine, it was my fault on getting here too late.

   • 2013, Zen Cho, “Balik Kampung (Going Back)”, in Jonathan Oliver, editor, End of the Road, Solaris, →ISBN:

     “Of course I’m sympathetic […] But you’re dead liao mah. Your parents also were suffering. Angry for what now?”

   • 2019 February 25, Shaun Tan, “This Singaporean Dude Invited Us to Be Hypnotised, Then It Got Weird”, in ricemedia.co‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 September 2025:

     McKing then asks, “Will there be a tree of sadness?”
     “No?” I utter, begrudgingly and slightly confused.
     “Cured liao lor,” he says.

   1. (with imperatives) Used to emphasize that something has to be done now.

      Go liao! ― What are you waiting for? It’s time to go!

Usage notes

While the terms already (senses 4 and 5) and liao are mostly interchangeable, liao is restricted to the end of clauses, whereas already can be used directly before verbs (e.g., I already had my lunch).

As a marker of inchoative aspect (sense 2), liao can describe a change that has just taken effect, or a change that is expected to occur in a short time. The sentence rain liao can mean “it has just started to rain”, but it can also be said in anticipation of the event happening in a very short time, e.g., when the clouds have turned grey. Strictly speaking, the point of focus is the moment of change; there is no regard for whether it is in the past, present or future. The sentence your ice cream melt liao conveys the meaning of “your ice cream has started melting”, which focuses on the beginning of the new state (melting), but there is some ambiguity here, as its use as an indicator of perfective aspect (sense 1) makes the interpretation that the action is complete, i.e., “your ice cream has melted”, also possible. In that regard, rain liao can also be interpreted as “it has already rained” (it is not raining anymore), adding an additional layer of ambiguity to the phrase. Note that in all of these examples, liao is interchangeable with already. Bao (1995) demonstrates this ambiguity for already with this sentence:

My son go to school already.

It has two principal interpretations—“it could mean that my son has already gone to school, or my son now goes to school, having reached the school-going age”. More words may be used to get across an unambiguous message (e.g., it’s going to melt liao “it’s going to melt any time now”). Liao is functionally equivalent to Hokkien 了 (liáu) and Mandarin 了 (liǎo).

Sense 2 of liao is commonly used indicate a current state—e.g., I’m at the airport liao “I’m already at the airport”—with the change of state (e.g., stepping into the airport) occurring at an unspecified moment in the past.

Liao can appear after conditional clauses to order events in a sequential manner, e.g., find liao, can go already “we can go once you’ve found it.” It is also used in imperative sentences, e.g., go liao! “let’s get going now!”

Liao may be used in interrogatives, e.g., water the plants liao ah? “you’ve watered the plants, right?” As a stand-alone particle in a polar question, it uses a low-mid pitch contour [˨]. In all other contexts, liao has a low [˩] or low-dipping [˨˩] pitch contour, except in direct loans and fixed expressions from Hokkien, it retains the falling pitch contour [˦˨] from Hokkien.

Related terms

• die liao
• mai tu liao
• si liao
• win liao lor

Discourse particles in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English
⟵ More assertiveLess assertive ⟶
Objection	what	Assertive emphasis	lah1–14	Self-evident answer	lor2–3	Resignation	lor1, ah6–7	Uncertainty	leh1–2
Self-evident reason	mah	Declarative emphasis	leh3–6, one1–3, hor1, know, nia, only	Discontent; shock; coarseness	sia	Agreement-seeking	hor2	Confirmation-seeking	ah1–3, hah1–3
Skepticism	meh			Confident speculation	ba2	Tentative judgment	leh7–11, ba1
Non-pragmatic
Aspectual					liao, already
References Gupta, A. F. (1992), “The pragmatic particles of Singapore colloquial English”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 18, number 1, →DOI

See also

• bo liao (unrelated etymologically)

References

• Bao, Zhiming (1995), “Already in Singapore English”, in World Englishes‎^[2], volume 14, number 2, pages 181–188

Etymology 2

From Mandarin 料 (liào, “ingredients”).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [ljaʊ˦˨]

Noun

liao (uncountable)

1. (Singapore, colloquial) Meats, vegetables, and other ingredients added to an otherwise plain dish.
   • 2012, Tan Tarn How, Fear of Writing, Epigram Books, →ISBN, scene: 35, page 72:

     Bak Chor Mee, less mee, Auntie. No extra liao today.

   • 2019 June 18, ieatishootipost, Instagram:

     Had this hearty bowl of bak chor mee today at Blk 58 New Upper Changi Road market. […] This is the $5 bowl with extra liao. […]

   • 2019 August 24, Yeo Boon Ping, quoting Zachary Tang, “If Zi Char Dishes Were In A Battle Royale, Which Would Come Out Tops?”, in ricemedia.co‎^[3], archived from the original on 12 July 2024:

     But for all the eggs and liao (ingredients) you have, it isn’t gao (strong).

Usage notes

Mainly used by Chinese Singaporeans and other speakers familiar with Mandarin.

Anagrams

• Aloi, Oail, Iola

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.