English words from Malay
5 English words with Malay in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
amok
It is borrowed from Malay amok (“attacking furiously”). It was first known in the Portuguese forms amouco and amuco.
cockatoo
It is borrowed from Dutch kaketoe, from Malay kakatua, perhaps imitative of the bird's call or from kakak “elder sibling” and tua “old”. The English spelling was influenced by cock.
compound
1. It is Middle English compounen, borrowed from Old French compondre (“to arrange, direct”), componre (present stem compon-), from Latin compōnere (“to put together”), from com- (“together”) and…
ketchup
It is probably borrowed from Malay kecap (“fish sauce”), possibly from Hokkien 膎汁 (kê-chiap, “brine of pickled fish”). The OED takes the Chinese word as the source, the Malay word perhaps being…
mandarin
It is borrowed from Portuguese mandarim, partly through Spanish mandarín and older Dutch mandorijn, from Malay menteri, from Hindi मन्त्री (mantrī, “counsellor, minister of state”), from Sanskrit…