Borrowed words

Borrowed words

The Malay language has many words borrowed from Arabic (in particular many religious terms), Sanskrit, Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch, Urdu, certain Chinese dialects and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Some examples follow:

* aksi - action (from Dutch actie)
* almari - cupboard (from Portuguese almaria)
* bahasa - language (from Sanskrit)
* bandar - town (from Persian)
* bendera - flag (from Portuguese bandeira)
* bihun - rice vermicelli (from Hokkien bi-hun)
* bomba - fire brigade (from Portuguese bomba, "pump", or bombeiro, "fireman", litt. "pumpman")
* buku - book (from English)
* cawan - cup (from Mandarin char-wan)
* duka - sadness (from Sanskrit dukkha)
* dunia - world (from Arabic dunya)
* gereja - church (from Portuguese igreja)
* guru - teacher (from Sanskrit)
* had - limit (from Arabic hadd)
* huruf - word character/letter (from Arabic)
* jawab - to answer (from Arabic)
* kamus - dictionary (from Arabic)
* kapal - ship (from Tamil kappal)
* katil - bed (from Tamil kattil)
* kaunter - counter or desk (from English)
* keju - cheese (from Portuguese queijo)
* komputer - computer (from English)
* kongsi - share (from Hokkien kong-si)
* kuda - horse (from Urdu kudh)
* limau - lemon/orange (from Portuguese limão, or directly from Arabic laimun)
* manusia - human being (from Sanskrit mannushya)
* mentega - butter (from Portuguese manteiga)
* mee/mi - noodles (from Hokkien miᴺ)
* misai - moustache (from Tamil meesai)
* nanas/nenas - pineapple (from Dutch ananas)
* roti - bread (from Sanskrit)
* sains - science (from English)
* sengsara - suffering (from Sanskrit samsara)
* syariah - Islamic law (from Arabic)
* sistem - system (from English)
* suka - happiness (from Sanskrit sukkha)
* tauhu - beancurd (from Hokkien tao-hu)
* tarikh - date (from Arabic tarikh)
* teh - tea (from Hokkien tɛ)
* teko - teapot (from Hokkien tɛ-ko)
* unta - camel (from Urdu unth)
* utara - North (from Sanskrit uttara)
* waktu - time (from Arabic waqt)
* zirafah - giraffe (from Arabic zarafah)