liao

alternative leow · alternative lo · alternative loh

1. ManglishSinglishIndicates action completion, or more generally, perfective aspect.

   I run 4 laps liao.

   I just ran 4 laps; I’ve run 4 laps.

   2 more examples

   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 now.

   Synonyms: already

2. ManglishSinglishMarks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect (see usage notes).

   It’s going to rain liao.

   It’s going to start raining soon.

   5 more examples

   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.

   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.

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

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

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

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

   2019 February 25, Shaun Tan, “This Singaporean Dude Invited Us to Be Hypnotised, Then It Got Weird”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2025

   Synonyms: already

   1. ManglishSinglishUsed to emphasize that something has to be done now.

      Go liao!

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

      Synonyms: already

1. SingaporecolloquialuncountableMeats, vegetables, and other ingredients added to an otherwise plain dish.

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

   2012, Tan Tarn How, Fear of Writing, Epigram Books, →ISBN, scene: 35, page 72

   2 more examples

   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 June 18, ieatishootipost, Instagram

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

   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, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2024

1. A river of Manchuria (northeastern China)

   The centre of Chinese influence in Manchuria was mainly Liaotung peninsula and along the Liao River valley.

   1934, T. O'Conroy, The Menace of Japan, London: Hurst & Blackett, →OCLC, page 159

   4 more examples

   Naturally the Japanese destroyed or captured the greater part of the obsolete Chinese Navy, drove the Chinese armies out of Korea, occupied Southern Manchuria as far west as the Liao River, and invaded Shantung.

   1939, Walker Matheson, “The U. S. Joins in the Battle of the Concessions”, in North American Review, volume 248, number 1, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 50–51

   To the Han people, the Khitan were not much more than barbarians. Interlopers from the Mongolian steppes, they moved into the northern provinces of China in the 10th century and established the Liao empire (named for the Liao River), one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties of its time.

   2006 October 13, Grace Glueck, “A Surprising Redoubt of Glittering Prizes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jan 2018, Art & Design

   After proceeding south-east to Yung-Ping (on the Bohai Sea), he then struck north-east to the Liao River, following Jebe’s route a year earlier, and penetrated deep into Manchuria, following, first, the north-easterly course of the Sunggari (Songhua) River, the largest tributary of the mighty Amur.

   2015, Frank McLynn, “The Invasion of the Jin Empire”, in Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World, Vintage Books, published 2016, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 206

   This language family's beginnings were traced to Neolithic millet farmers in the Liao River valley, an area encompassing parts of the Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and the region of Inner Mongolia.[…] The origins of modern Chinese languages arose independently, though in a similar fashion with millet also involved. While the progenitors of the Transeurasian languages grew broomcorn millet in the Liao River valley, the originators of the Sino-Tibetan language family farmed foxtail millet at roughly the same time in China's Yellow River region, paving the way for a separate language dispersal, Robbeets said.

   2021 November 10, Will Dunham, “Japanese-Korean-Turkish language group traced to farmers in ancient China”, in Rosalba O'Brien, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2021, China

2. One of various medieval dynasties of Khitan rulers in Chinese history originally from its watershed

   1 more example

   To the Han people, the Khitan were not much more than barbarians. Interlopers from the Mongolian steppes, they moved into the northern provinces of China in the 10th century and established the Liao empire (named for the Liao River), one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties of its time. The short-lived Liao reign lasted from 907 until 1125, but at its height stretched from Manchuria to Inner Asia.

   2006 October 13, Grace Glueck, “A Surprising Redoubt of Glittering Prizes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jan 2018, Art & Design

   Synonyms: Khitan

3. uncommonLiaoning, a Chinese province surrounding and named for the Liao watershed

1. A surname from Chinese.

1. Synonym of Rau, a people of southeastern China

   Synonyms: Rau