longkang
Singaporean and Malaysian colloquial slang for a roadside drain or monsoon drain — those concrete open channels running along streets that handle heavy tropical rainfall.
Definitions
Singaporean and Malaysian colloquial slang for a roadside drain or monsoon drain — those concrete open channels running along streets that handle heavy tropical rainfall. 'Longkang' is from Malay and is completely standard in everyday Singlish and Malaysian English speech. These drains are a fixture of Southeast Asian urban life and the word appears constantly in casual conversation: falling into a longkang is a social media rite of passage, and 'longkang fish' (fish that live in drains) is a thing kids talk about with gross fascination.
He was staring at his phone while walking and nearly stepped straight into the longkang outside the kopitiam.
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(colloquial, Singapore, Malaysia) , street drain.
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