malay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a member of a Southeast Asian people native especially to the Malay Peninsula and parts of the Malay Archipelago

   Malays form communities across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and southern Thailand.

2. 2
   noun

   the Austronesian language of the Malays and the basis of the national languages of Malaysia and Indonesia

   She learned Malay before beginning fieldwork on the peninsula.

3. 3
   adj

   relating to the Malay people, their culture, or their language

   The archive contains several early Malay manuscripts.

From Malay Melayu, the name of the people and language, ultimately associated with Malayu, a historical polity in Sumatra. The English word is recorded from the late sixteenth century. Malay should not be used as a general synonym for Malaysian.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images