Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
particle
Final interrogative particle, forming a yes/no question from a declarative statement.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Malaysia, Singapore, colloquial
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
phrase
Emphasizes that a particular claim or idea makes no difference regarding what can or has happened.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
phrase
A sardonic response to a new event that contradicts what the speaker has just stated.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Calque of Hokkien 抑無 /抑无 (a̍h-bô / á-bô, literally “or not; or no; or none”). See also Hokkien 是毋是 (sī-m̄-sī / sǐ-m̄-sǐ, “whether or not”), 是抑毋是 (sī á-m̄-sī / sǐ á-m̄-sǐ, “isn't?”, literally “is it? or is it not?”), Mandarin 是不是 (shìbùshì, “whether or not”), forming a question, and similar interrogative expressions with 不, 無 /无, 唔 and other dialectal synonyms.
