Malay

[ mey-ley, muh-ley ]

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a racially intermixed people who are the dominant population of the Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands.

  2. of or relating to the language or culture of these people.

noun
  1. a member of the Malay people.

  2. an Austronesian language of Malaysia and Singapore, differing from Indonesian only in orthography.

Other words from Malay

  • non-Malay, adjective, noun
  • pre-Malay, adjective

Words Nearby Malay

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Malay in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Malay

Malay

/ (məˈleɪ) /


noun
  1. a member of a people living chiefly in Malaysia and Indonesia who are descendants of Mongoloid immigrants

  2. the language of this people, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian family

adjective
  1. of or relating to the Malays or their language

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