Meanings
- SinglishidiomaticSuperficial; incompetent or having no substance despite appearances, skin-deep; portraying oneself as greater than one actually is; all style and no substance.
Sure, they turn heads. But what is it like riding one of these scooters with a sidecar? When I first saw one of Mr Johnny Chen’s creations online, I thought “ho kua bo ho jiak” (Hokkien slang which means all style and no substance) […]
2014 May 17, Kevin Chin, The Straits Times, Singapore, Life! Motoring, page 2 - SinglishliterallyUnpalatable despite having great presentation.
Origin
- Hokkien好看無好食 /好看无好食
- Englishho kua bo ho jiak
From Hokkien 好看無好食 /好看无好食 (hó-khòaⁿ bô hó-chia̍h, literally “good to look at, not good to eat”).
More words from Hokkien
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ho kua bo ho jiak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ho%20kua%20bo%20ho%20jiak
“ho kua bo ho jiak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ho%20kua%20bo%20ho%20jiak. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ho kua bo ho jiak,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ho%20kua%20bo%20ho%20jiak.
Source: ho kua bo ho jiak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.