Kiasi vs. Kiasu — What's the Difference?

Kiasi (Chinese: 怕死; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kiaⁿ-sí) is a Hokkien phrase, literally means afraid of death, to describe the attitude of being overly afraid or timid. Kiasi is commonly compared to Kiasu (literally: “fear of losing”); both are commonly used to describe attitudes where Kiasi or Kiasi-ism means to take extreme measures to avoid risk and Kiasu or Kiasu-ism means to take extreme means to achieve success.

Kiasu (Chinese: 怕輸; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kiaⁿ-su) is a Hokkien word that denotes a "grasping, selfish attitude" that arises from fear of missing out.

Unwilling to take a chance for fear that something bad or unfavourable will happen; cowardly.

Afraid to lose out, particularly because one is overly competitive.

A kiasi person.

A kiasu person.