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Dayak

American  
[dahy-ak, -uhk] / ˈdaɪ æk, -ək /
Also Dyak

noun

Dayaks, plural Dayak plural
  1. a member of any of several Indigenous, Austronesian-speaking tribal peoples of Sarawak and Indonesian Borneo.


Dayak British  
/ ˈdaɪæk /

noun

  1. a variant spelling of Dyak

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of Dayak

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Another item on sale is a Dayak tribal trophy skull from Borneo, Indonesia.

From BBC Jun. 26, 2026

The Dayak peoples are indigenous to the Indonesian part of Borneo, known as Kalimantan.

From National Geographic Jan. 25, 2024

The same is true of the Dayak fruit bat, which can only be found in southeast Asia's Sunda Shelf.

From Salon May 28, 2022

His family has lived deep in the rainforest for eight generations, and the 62-year-old has been involved in multiple legal actions as the secretary general of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association, an Indigenous rights group.

From Seattle Times Nov. 8, 2021

The usual nuisance of crowing cocks is not to be avoided in a Dayak kampong, though here they were few.

From Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917 by Lumholtz, Carl

Back then, the Dayaks allied themselves with the Malays, a Muslim ethnic group, suggesting that the conflict was not about religion.

From Economist Jul. 20, 2017

It is not just Dayaks who are anxious.

From Economist Jul. 20, 2017

Even better, he realized, a drone might be able to help the Dayaks to help themselves: enabling them to gather their own aerial data that could challenge the information collected by the central government.

From Slate Jun. 2, 2015

The Dayaks, with the help of Indonesian geographer Irendra Radjawali, are taking full advantage of this technological shake-up.

From Slate Jun. 2, 2015

It was difficult to hold the busy Dayaks in the kampong.

From Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917 by Lumholtz, Carl

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