lor
Language: English
Part of speech: particle
Pronunciation: ipa: /lɔː˦/
note: after /n/
ipa: /(n)ɔː˦/
ipa: /lɔ˥/
Forms: form: loh
form: lorh
form: lo
Etymology: From Cantonese 囉 /啰 (lo¹) and Hokkien 囉 /啰 (--lo͘).
Senses: examples: text: Next time lor.
translation: Leave it for next time.
english: Leave it for next time.
text: OK lor, go ahead.
translation: Fine, go ahead.
english: Fine, go ahead.
bold_translation_offsets: 0
4
text: Bo pian lor.
translation: We don’t have a choice.
english: We don’t have a choice.
text: [B]y then, it was too late, and I just told myself, ‘Ya lor. He’s right.’
ref: 2003 November 16, Suzanne Sng, The Sunday Times, Singapore, page 16:
text: We had no income, so just eat at Koufu or Kopitiam lor.
ref: 2020 December 1, Eve Lock, quoting Marcus, “Many Of Us Will Save For A Wedding, But Not Retirement”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2024:
text: Within a minute, Hougang uncle moves from denial, anger, and bargaining to “ok lor I’ll just remove them”—a quintessential Singaporean pattern of resignation.
ref: 2023 January 3, Hykel Quek, quoting Marcus, “3 Ways To Respond to Authority, According to a Fierce (but Resigned) Hougang Uncle”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 25 May 2024:
glosses: Tagged at the end of a sentence to convey a sense of resignation or inevitability.
examples: text: Near-synonym: lah (sense 6)
text: You lor, or else still got who?
translation: It’s obviously you then.
english: It’s obviously you then.
bold_translation_offsets: 0
14
19
23
text: Then tell him lor.
translation: You go and tell him then.
english: You go and tell him then.
bold_translation_offsets: 20
24
text: Take a cab lor, easier this way.
translation: Just take a cab, it’s easier this way.
english: Just take a cab, it’s easier this way.
text: Wait till December lor.
translation: I guess we just have to wait till December.
english: I guess we just have to wait till December.
bold_translation_offsets: 0
23
text: young mother: You never told me you had so much money... You sure you can afford this?
young father: No need to worry about that. Not enough then borrow lor.
ref: 2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene viii, page 41:
text: I didn’t go to uni, just picked up the language organically from conversations around me. Twitter/Facebook, friends, news, etc … Anything I wasn’t sure of, just Google lor.
ref: 2022 July 21, Sophie Chew, quoting Visakan Veerasamy, “Afraid of ‘Saying the Wrong Thing’ About Racism? Speak Up Anyway.”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2024:
glosses: Used to suggest that there is an obvious, inevitable or straightforward answer to something.
examples: text: At my house lor.
translation: At my house, where else?
english: At my house, where else?
bold_translation_offsets: 13
23
text: It’s true for me, at least. Friends under interrogation insist that ‘Have You Eaten?’ is very much alive, but when asked to recall their last encounter, answers invariably skew towards inter-generational anecdotes. “Relatives lor” is the top reply, and “Small-talk with taxi drivers” emerged as a runner-up because many feel compelled to make conversation after the initial “PIE or CTE?” decision.
ref: 2018 September 17, Pan Jie, “Why Do We Greet Each Other By Asking, ‘Have You Eaten?’”, in ricemedia.co, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2024:
text: As a facilitator, I often ask the participants: how are you feeling now? And often, the replies I get are: "Okay lor", "Like that lor".
ref: 2024 February 6, Carrie Tan, “Advancing Mental Health”, in Parliamentary Debates: Official Report (Parliament of Singapore), volume 95:
glosses: Suggests that the reply given is the obvious or expected one.
examples: raw_tags: begrudgingly
text: Sorry lor.
translation: (sarcastic) Oh I’m so sorry! (begrudgingly) OK! I'm sorry!
english: (sarcastic) Oh I’m so sorry! (begrudgingly) OK! I'm sorry!
text: Ya lor / Han nor.
translation: Yeah (agreement)
english: Yeah (agreement)
text: A retired senior police officer in Hong Kong on trial over the assault of a bystander during the 2014 Occupy protests said “sorry lor” for his actions in court on Friday, admitting that he hit his accuser with a baton on instinct.
ref: 2017 November 10, “‘Sorry ... what do you expect?’ says former top policeman on trial for Occupy assault”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Nov 2022:
glosses: Used to reinforce an opinion, sometimes in a sarcastic manner.
Derived terms: win liao lor
Related terms: word: what
word: lah1–14
word: lor2–3
word: lor1
word: ah6–7
word: leh1–2
word: mah
word: leh3–6
word: one1–3
word: hor1
word: know
word: nia
word: only
word: sia
word: hor2
word: ah1–3
word: hah1–3
word: meh
word: ba2
word: leh7–11
word: ba1
word: liao
word: already
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: Gupta
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: A. F. (1992)
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: in
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: volume 18
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: number 1
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: →DOI
word: lor mee
word: lor ark
word: lor sor