PETALING JAYA (ANN/THE STAR) – Oxford Languages, a part of Oxford University Press, announces its latest Oxford English Dictionary (OED) update, consisting of “untranslatable words” from Malaysia and Singapore.
It explains that these “untranslatable words” are certain words and phrases in one language that cannot be translated directly into another and often represent a means for those who speak English alongside other languages to bridge a linguistic gap more easily.
“Sometimes, they do this with enough frequency that the borrowed word eventually becomes part of the vocabulary of their variety of English – a few examples of such loan words are featured in this quarter’s OED update,” it wrote in a statement on Wednesday (March 26).
It said that a category of words that often defy direct translation are exclamations that express different emotions, such as “alamak” (earliest seen 1952).
Local dishes also tend to be borrowed into English rather than given an Anglicised name as well. A few examples are Ketupat (1886), Otak-otak (1929), nasi lemak (1935) and half-boiled egg (1931).
“Two examples of Malay dishes that did get Anglicised names are fish head curry (1972) and steamboat (1960),” it wrote.
Another food-related word that made it to the list is tapau (1997) which, according to Oxford Languages comes from the Malay word and its Cantonese etymon dá bāau “to pack, to pack up food to take away”, which is from dá “to beat, to tie or do up”’, combined with bāau “to wrap, to package”.
Mat rempit (2004) also made it to the list alongside “terror” which can mean “terrible, awful” (1977), or also “admirable, excellent” (1997).
“Terror is frequently preceded by wah and followed by lah, as in this approving 2020 social media post quoted in the OED entry: “Wah! So terror lah,” said Oxford Languages
The full list of English words from Malaysia and Singapore added in this update is as follows:
- alamak, int.
- fish head curry, n.
- half-boiled egg, n.
- kaya, n.2
- kaya toast, n.
- ketupat, n.
- mat rempit, n.
- nasi lemak, n.
- otak-otak, n.
- steamboat, n.
- tapau, v.
- terror, adj.
