Malaysian

How to spell malaysian

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce malaysian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does malaysian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Malaysia, its people, language, or culture.
2. nounA person from Malaysia or a citizen of Malaysia.

Malaysian in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant serves authentic malaysian street food.

• noun

  As a malaysian, he holds a passport issued in Putrajaya.

• adjective

  She studied malaysian history during her year abroad.

• noun

  Every malaysian at the conference shared the same warm welcome.

Where does malaysian come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word is built on the place name Malaysia, the Southeast Asian nation formed in 1963 when Malaya joined with Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak. The root is Malay, the name of the people and language long established along the Malay Peninsula and the surrounding archipelago; that name is generally traced to Malayu, an early kingdom and river region on Sumatra. The ending -sia is a Latinised geographical suffix meaning 'land of', the same element seen in Asia and Indonesia, and the further suffix -an turns the country name into a word for its people and an adjective describing things from there. English adopted the demonym alongside the new nation in the mid twentieth century, though Malay itself had circulated in English since the 1500s through trade and exploration. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle vowel and the silent-looking -ay- before the -s-, since the pronunciation gives little hint that an 'ay' rather than a single letter sits in the heart of the word.

How the word is built

• Malay (the Malay people/language)
• -sia (place suffix, as in Malaysia)
• -an (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'belonging to')