suaku

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English

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Etymology

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From Hokkien 山龜山龟 (soaⁿ-ku, “mountain turtle”), from (soaⁿ, “mountain”) + (ku, “turtle”).

Noun

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suaku (plural suakus)

  1. (Singapore, informal) Someone who is not well informed; a country bumpkin.
    • 1986, “New Books”, in Asiaweek, volume 12, page 60:
      The suaku (literally "mountain tortoise" and figuratively "country bumpkin") sports a beer belly, fake brand-name apparel and oil-slick hair.

Adjective

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suaku (comparative more suaku, superlative most suaku)

  1. (Singapore, informal) Not well informed; backward.
    • 2003, Beng Huat Chua, Life is Not Complete Without Shopping: Consumption Culture in Singapore, →ISBN, page 88:
      Ah Lian are not simply lowly educated, they also have supposedly 'pre-modern' or sua-ku (hill tortoise, metaphor for 'backward') modes of behaviour.