So ‘atas’: More Singlish words added to Oxford English Dictionary

SINGAPORE — “Aiyoh”, “aiyah” and “atas”. These are among some of the Singlish words that were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in its quarterly update on Monday (Sept 12).

“Aiyoh” and “aiyah” are terms often used to exclaim surprise or disappointment while “atas” is usually used to describe something of high social status or someone arrogant.

The dictionary also added “Ah Beng”, defined as “a young man of a type characterised by the wearing of fashionable or designer clothing and by behaviour considered brash and loutish” and popular dish “char kway teow”. “Kopitiam”, a term commonly used to describe coffee shops found in neighbourhoods, is now also in the dictionary.
 

This follows an earlier update in March where other prominent Singlish words and phrases were added to the Oxford English Dictionary for the first time. These words included “wah”, “ang moh”, “shiok” and “lepak”.

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This month’s update also paid tribute to late British novelist Roald Dahl by featuring words used in his books. These include "splendiferous", "human bean", and "Dahlesque".

Here is the list of Singapore English items added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the September update:

Ah Beng

aiyah

aiyoh

ang pow

atas

char kway teow

hongbao

kopitiam