Talk:hiam

RFV discussion: April–June 2016
Can this be considered an English word? None of the examples are really in English. "mee siam mai hiam", "Laksa, mai hiam", "Mee pok Ta hiam jio zway zway." aren't English phrases. When people speak multiple languages they tend to mix words, but this doesn't make the result valid in any particular language. I suggest the article for deletion. 73.71.174.75 16:53, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
 * (If it makes it easier to judge the [non-]English-ness of the quotations, FWIW 勿|mai means "I don't want" and 愛|ai means "I want".) —suzukaze (t・c) 17:04, 4 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Every one of the quotes currently at that entry illustrates quite plainly that this term is not considered to be "English" by the authors themselves. I see no reason why we should disagree with them.  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 19:55, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree. There is no evidence that this is an English word. I don't know what it is. Delete (even though this is RfV) SemperBlotto (talk) 20:07, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Admittedly, those citations are most transliterated Chinese. But Google Groups has one that reads "Chef's specialty: Sambal fried rice, mega hiam, $4" - where it means 'spicy', which is a start. And the citation that reads "For example, ‘Laksa, mai hiam’. He could have said, ““May I have a bowl of spicy noodle soup without chilli please”, had he wanted to use Standard English" is English at a stretch. Nevertheless, most examples seem to be of "mai hiam" (i.e. hold the chilli, when ordering a dish) - which may be Singaporean English, but it is unclear if that matches the definition given. There seems to have been a lot of discussion at one point around a Singaporean politician saying "mee siam mai hiam" - i.e. mee siam (a type of noodle dish) hold the chilli - though apparently he actually said "mai hum" which is some type of profanity. Not that any of this helps with the actual sense here. - Sonofcawdrey (talk) 09:01, 5 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I just searched for "very hiam" on Google and there are lots of hits - enough to suggest it is in common use in Singapore English. - Sonofcawdrey (talk) 09:08, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Of the first page of hits at, only one stood out as definitely applicable (towards the bottom -- a blog post entitled "Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee very Hiam"). There were a couple instances of people described as "hiam" ("I not very hiam about it", or "But she very hiam"), which makes me wonder if this might be a different word altogether.  All told, Google reports only 245 hits for the whole web, quite a small number really.  Paging through, this collapses to just 39.  The evidence for this collocation is quite scant.  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 17:14, 7 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, scant perhaps, but 39 suffices CFI, does it not? Given that the query here is about the word 'hiam', so not restricted to the collocation 'very hiam' - I just had searched for that as it is a good way to locate adjectival uses. But, more important here is the meaning, as it is defined as spicy in the taste sense, but there is also a fig. sense, as in hot/good-looking/etc. - so that'd need sorting out as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to get around to it sooner rather than later. - Sonofcawdrey (talk) 04:20, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Re: CFI, yes, 39 suffices -- provided that enough of these 39 are actually 1) English, 2) from this same Singaporean etymon, 3) used to express the same part of speech, and 4) used to express the same meaning. Raw googit counts don't actually count for much (pardon the pun).  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 21:36, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I think that the following examples from Google are all good cases of hiam used in English contexts. There is little on Google Groups, but that is only because Google Groups does not contain much Singlish.
 * * but quality a bit not consistent... sometimes very hiam..... sometimes not tt hiam........ Chelzea.
 * * Had kacang-ma from the leftover last night.I don't quite like it very hiam, gonna eat those kind of stuffs during confinement next time.
 * * Most Teochew people would cook in white wine…very “hiam”.
 * * Very hiam but so very good.
 * * oic. even if ruyi oil is not very hiam, also cannot?
 * * Very hiam. Essence of chicken.
 * * Pepper for adults, but not very hiam.
 * * Cause forum people say till like very hiam nothing much to eat like this.
 * * cos my mum happy happy accepted the box of mooncake and quickly put in the fridge and my papa share his very "hiam" rojak with him
 * * That makes sense, actually. Kim chi - very 'hiam' one. (Very chilli).
 * * Wow the laksa very hiam man.
 * * You need this after your very hiam looking lunch.
 * * Sambal fried rice, mega hiam, $4
 * * I hear there are two types of ginger – the clean ones not so hiam and not so wangi.
 * * bluey, xx, the not so 'hiam' version of ruyi oil brand is bao xin an.
 * * hehe spicy level 3.. my friends say not so hiam..
 * * Will there be a girl in Singapore who will be content with char kuey teow extra hum extra hiam ($5)
 * * White Carrot Cake extra hiam $2
 * * Come and pick me up and bring me out for Jewish food (sorry but I like my mee pok dry with extra hiam)
 * * "When ordering, always go for extra hiam, extra chor, extra lard. Extra yums!"
 * * I like it black, no eggs, cut in small pcs, extra hiam, chye poh oso extra chang.
 * * With extra hum, extra tam, extra hiam.
 * Considering this evidence, I would like to suggest that the word is common enough to pass CFI's "in widespread use" criterion - which it is in Singapore English. Sonofcawdrey (talk) 09:03, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Good research, thank you Sonofcawdrey. So long as this is clearly marked as Singapore or Singaporean English (which it currently is), I'm happy.  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 00:16, 14 June 2016 (UTC)