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.

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

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.

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Orangutan, in Malay, means “person of the forest,” the zoo noted.

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

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Mr. Hishamuddin pointed out that a traditional expression declares it a tragedy if a Malay person doesn’t like durian.

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

Read more on New York Times