Malay
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of a racially intermixed people who are the dominant population of the Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands.
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of or relating to the language or culture of these people.
noun
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Malays
plural
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a member of the Malay people.
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an Austronesian language of Malaysia and Singapore, differing from Indonesian only in orthography.
noun
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a member of a people living chiefly in Malaysia and Indonesia who are descendants of Mongoloid immigrants
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the language of this people, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian family
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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:
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
Orangutan, in Malay, means “person of the forest,” the zoo noted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
In the widely shared video, he wears a traditional outfit known as a Teluk Belanga with a Malay Riau headcloth.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025
De' Conti acknowledged the fruit's esteem throughout the Malay archipelago, but considered its odour nauseating.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2024
Those details of linguistic relationships agree perfectly with the archaeological evidence that the colonization of the Malay Peninsula was recent, and followed rather than preceded the colonization of Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
A conviction could add years to Najib's sentence and deal a further blow to his lingering influence within Malaysia's oldest political party, the United Malays National Organisation, which lost power in the 2018 election.
From Barron's ● Dec. 25, 2025
The party retains considerable support among ethnic Malays, the majority, who benefited during Mr. Najib’s nine-year rule and whom Mr. Anwar is now trying to court.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
Zahid heads the United Malays National Organization, and his support has been pivotal in helping Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim form a unity government after last November’s general election led to a hung Parliament.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2023
They argued the rules were needed to ensure better representation of minorities in Singapore, which include Malays, Indians, and Eurasians.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2023
When Lupe returned, the Malays were shouldering the pepper bags, and hurrying to the water’s edge, loading their proas.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
