kiasu
[kee-ah-soo, kee-uh-soo]
adjective
self-serving, competitive, or greedy: parents who are kiasu about their children’s education.
noun
Also ki·a·su·ism. a kiasu mind-set.
Origin of kiasu
< Chinese: literally, ‘fear of losing or of losing out’
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019