Malay

How to spell malay

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce malay

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does malay mean?

1. nounA member of a people native to the Malay Peninsula and parts of maritime Southeast Asia.
2. nounThe Austronesian language spoken across Malaysia, Indonesia, and neighbouring areas.
3. adjectiveRelating to the Malay people, their language, or their region.

Malay in a sentence

• noun

  His grandmother was a malay who grew up near the coast of the peninsula.

• noun

  She signed up for evening classes to learn malay before her posting abroad.

• adjective

  The restaurant is famous for its rich malay curries and grilled fish.

• noun

  The museum exhibit traced the trading history of the malay across the region.

• noun

  The menu was printed in both English and malay for the tourists.

• adjective

  The resort sits on a stretch of the malay coast lined with palm trees.

Where does malay come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word comes from Melayu, the name that the people of the Malay Peninsula and surrounding islands used for themselves and their language. The earliest sense seems to have referred to a region or kingdom around the Strait of Malacca, and some scholars connect it to a Malay or Javanese word suggesting movement or flowing water, though the precise original meaning is not settled. European traders met the term in the 1500s and 1600s, and it reached English largely through Portuguese and Dutch contact with the busy spice ports of Southeast Asia. English speakers wrote it in many ways before settling on the spelling Malay, which keeps the stress on the final syllable. The same root survives today in the country name Malaysia and in the language name Bahasa Melayu, which is why the modern spelling looks so different from the way the word sounds.

How the word is built

• Malay (an anglicised form of the indigenous name Melayu, naming the people, language, and region; no separable prefix or suffix)