"bo liao" meaning in English

See bo liao in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˌboː˨ˈljaʊ˨˦/ [Singapore] Forms: more bo liao [comparative], most bo liao [superlative]
Etymology: From Hokkien 無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|nan-hok|-}} Hokkien, {{zh-m|無聊|bô-liâu|bored; boring}} 無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”) Head templates: {{en-adj|nolinkhead=1}} bo liao (comparative more bo liao, superlative most bo liao)
  1. (Singapore, colloquial) Boring. Tags: Singapore, colloquial Synonyms: bo-liao, boh liao
    Sense id: en-bo_liao-en-adj-RANCjwfD Categories (other): Singapore English

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for bo liao meaning in English (2.1kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nan-hok",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Hokkien",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "無聊",
        "2": "bô-liâu",
        "3": "bored; boring"
      },
      "expansion": "無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”)",
      "name": "zh-m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hokkien 無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more bo liao",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most bo liao",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "nolinkhead": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "bo liao (comparative more bo liao, superlative most bo liao)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Singapore English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Leong Siew Mei, “Government system should be more tightly controlled”, in soc.culture.singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "This guy damn bo-liao. As though I got time to entertain you.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Steven Tan, “Petition against M1 charging for SMS”, in soc.culture.singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "I had a friend who would SMS me the most bo liao messages. I’m glad it’s stopped now.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Airstrike, “13 school websites defaced by hacker who signed off as 'Jack Riderr'”, in Stomp (Singapore), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "Can’t they do something more meaningful? Doing such things is called ‘bo liao‘ (nothing better to do).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Derek Lim, “Random thoughts: Too iron teeth in my work?”, in thefinance.sg, retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "Having to manage that part is rather ‘bo liao’ and I felt my limited energy can be better served somewhere.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Boring."
      ],
      "id": "en-bo_liao-en-adj-RANCjwfD",
      "links": [
        [
          "Boring",
          "Boring"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, colloquial) Boring."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bo-liao"
        },
        {
          "word": "boh liao"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌboː˨ˈljaʊ˨˦/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bo liao"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nan-hok",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Hokkien",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "無聊",
        "2": "bô-liâu",
        "3": "bored; boring"
      },
      "expansion": "無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”)",
      "name": "zh-m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hokkien 無聊/无聊 (bô-liâu, “bored; boring”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more bo liao",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most bo liao",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "nolinkhead": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "bo liao (comparative more bo liao, superlative most bo liao)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Singapore English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Leong Siew Mei, “Government system should be more tightly controlled”, in soc.culture.singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "This guy damn bo-liao. As though I got time to entertain you.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Steven Tan, “Petition against M1 charging for SMS”, in soc.culture.singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "I had a friend who would SMS me the most bo liao messages. I’m glad it’s stopped now.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Airstrike, “13 school websites defaced by hacker who signed off as 'Jack Riderr'”, in Stomp (Singapore), retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "Can’t they do something more meaningful? Doing such things is called ‘bo liao‘ (nothing better to do).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Derek Lim, “Random thoughts: Too iron teeth in my work?”, in thefinance.sg, retrieved 2016-04-01",
          "text": "Having to manage that part is rather ‘bo liao’ and I felt my limited energy can be better served somewhere.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Boring."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Boring",
          "Boring"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Singapore, colloquial) Boring."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Singapore",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌboː˨ˈljaʊ˨˦/",
      "tags": [
        "Singapore"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "bo-liao"
    },
    {
      "word": "boh liao"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bo liao"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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