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List of English words of Indonesian origin

The following is a partial list of English words of Indonesian origin. The loanwords in this list may be borrowed or derived, either directly or indirectly, from the Indonesian language. Some words may also be borrowed from Malay during the British colonial period in British Malaya, or during the short period of British rule in Java. However, unlike loanwords of Malay origin, some of these loanwords may be derived from languages of Indonesia such as Javanese.

Examples of English loanwords of Indonesian origin are those related to Indonesian culture and artforms (e.g. angklung, batik, kris and wayang), as well as words used to describe flora and fauna endemic to the Indonesian archipelago (e.g. babirusa, cockatoo, orangutan and Komodo). Other recently adopted loanwords include food related terms (e.g. agar and tempeh) and specific volcanology terms (e.g. lahar and ribu).

Animals

Plants and trees

  • Bamboo from bambu
  • Gambier from gambir
  • Gutta percha from getah perca (Indonesian)
  • Kapok from kapuk
  • Meranti a kind of tropical tree
  • Merbau a kind of tropical tree
  • Paddy from padi (Indonesian) / pari (Javanese)
  • Pandanus from pandan
  • Ramie from rami
  • Rattan from rotan
  • Sago from sagu
  • Cajuput from kayu Putih

Fruits

Foods

Clothes and textiles

Musical instruments

Ships

  • Junk from jong
  • Proa (also 'prahu' or 'prau') from prahu (Javanese) or perahu (Indonesian) originated from Portuguese proa.

Weapons

  • Kris from keris (Javanese)
  • Parang
  • Sjambok from cambuk in Indonesia, where it was the name of a wooden rod for punishing slaves
  • Tombac from tombak

Person name

  • Mata Hari from matahari (sun)

Units

  • Catty from கட்டி kaṭṭi (Tamil), ultimately derived from Chinese unit
  • Picul: traditional Asian weight unit, derived from Javanese pikul
  • Ribu: topographic prominence unit of mountain or volcano more than 1,000 metres, derived from Indonesian ribu (thousand)

Behavior and psychology

Sports

Others

  • Balanda to refer whiteman, from belanda (Dutchman)
  • Camphor, from kapur barus ("Barus' chalk"), which refers to the port of Barus in Sumatra as the source of camphor
  • Damar, plant resin
  • Lahar from lahar (Javanese)
  • Compound from kampung, which is Indonesian for "village".
  • Warung

References

  1. ^ a b c Lonely Planet, Indonesian phrasebook, Fifth edition, 2006. Page 9. ISBN 1-74059-297-2
  2. ^ gecko, n. Oxford English Dictionary Second edition, 1989; online version September 2011. Accessed 29 October 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1898.
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