Etymology

kan cheong

Today it means: Nervous, anxious, keyed up Full definition →

Cantonese 緊張 /紧张 ← semantic loan from Singapore Hokkien 緊張
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The story

  1. semantic loan from Singapore Hokkien · borrowed from緊張“nervous; stressed”
  2. Cantonese · derived from緊張 /紧张
  3. English todaykan cheong

From Cantonese 緊張 /紧张 (gan² zoeng¹), by way of Singapore Hokkien 緊張 /紧张 (kán-chiong, “nervous; stressed”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.