Meanings
- SingaporeinformaluncountableA phoney or fraudulent item; anything deceptively promoted as genuine or of high quality.
Whenever I meet Meng Seng, he is always trying to sell me his koyok and recruit me into his Party.
2011 March 1, Ravi Philemon, “Goh Meng Seng the koyok seller”, in raviphilemon.net2 more examples
“I'm here to sell my koyok,” laughed Olivia Lum as she took to the stage and began her presentation on Hyflux Limited, it turned out that the koyok was not some sales pitch trying to sell ice to Eskimos.
2012 September 17, Tan Meng Chuan, “On The Challenges of Cleaning Water”, in Overseas Singaporean Unit, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016This is the reason why I get so uptight, so aggressive when someone comes along, talks very well, but sells koyok and puts our country in danger.
2015 September 10, “Vivian: I fight back when people sell 'koyok'”, in The Straits Times
Origin
- Malaykoyok“quack medicine”
- Englishkoyok
Borrowed from Malay koyok (“quack medicine”), from Hakka 膏藥／膏药 (kò-yo̍k, “herbal plaster, medicated patch, poultice”).
More words from Malay
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
koyok. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koyok
“koyok.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koyok. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “koyok,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/koyok.
Source: koyok on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.