Malay

American  

[mey-ley, muh-ley] / ˈmeɪ leɪ, məˈleɪ /

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.

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noun

1. a member of the Malay people.

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

Malay British  

/ 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

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Malays or their language

Other Word Forms

• non-Malay adjective
• pre-Malay adjective

Example Sentences

For centuries the Maniq -- one of Thailand's smallest ethnic minorities — lived as hunter-gatherers, roaming the rainforests of the Malay Peninsula, moving with the seasons in search of food.

From Barron's • Nov. 24, 2025

In 1026, Rajendra put his troops on merchants' ships and sacked Kedah, a Malay city that dominated the global trade in precious woods and spices.

From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025

De' Conti acknowledged the fruit's esteem throughout the Malay archipelago, but considered its odour nauseating.

From Salon • Jul. 22, 2024

By this time, the plane had reached the Bay of Bengal, which sits between the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia.

From New York Times • May 22, 2024

In appearance and genes those islands’ inhabitants are similar to South Chinese, and even more similar to tropical Southeast Asians, especially those of the Malay Peninsula.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond