Indonesian Slang - Vocabulary

Vocabulary

The structure of the Indonesian slang language is mostly derived from formal Indonesian, however its vocabularly is a different story altogether. Indonesian slang vocabulary is enriched by a combination of derivatives or loan words/ structures from foreign languages such as Min Nan commonly referred to as Hokkien, English, and Dutch, as well as local ethnic languages such as Batavian, Sundanese, and Javanese. However, in many cases, new words are simply created at random, their origins often quite obscure.

• A large proportion of the vocabulary used in Indonesian slang language was developed from formal Indonesian through several methods, most of which are listed below:

• Nasalisation of active verb, shortening or exclusion of the original prefix and adding -in at the end of the word, for example:
  • memikirkan (pikir) (to think) into mikirin
  • menanyakan (tanya) (to ask) into nanyain (exclusion of "me-"), often with a glottal stop between the a and the i, thus nanya'in
• Adding -in at the end of the passive transitive verbs, for example:
  • diajari (to be taught) into diajarin
  • dipukuli (to be beaten) into dipukulin
• Adding ke- at the beginning of passive intransitive verbs, instead of using ter- and altering pronunciation from 'a' to 'e' (Javanese influence) for example:
  • tertangkap (to be caught) into ketangkep
  • terpelését (to accidentally slip) into kepelését
• Eliminating one or few letters of the word, for example:
  • habis (depleted/ finished/emptied) into abis
  • tahu (know) into tau
• Contraction of two or more words into one word, for example:
  • terima kasih (thank) into makasih
  • jaga image (to safeguard one's social image) into ja'im, with a glottal stop between the a and the i
  • Percaya diri (confidence) into PD (pédé)
• Replacing letter a with e in some words (Javanese influence), for example:
  • benar (correct) into bener
  • pintar (smart) into pinter
  • malas (lazy) into males
  • segar (fresh) into seger
• Contracting diphthong into monosyllabic letter, for example:
  • kalau (if) into kalo
  • pakai (use) into paké
  • sampai (until) into sampé
• Addition/ exclusion of silent consonants and glottal stops to the beginning/ends of words:
  • pakai (use) into paké or even pakék (final -k being a glottal stop)
  • enggak (no, not) into nggak or ngga or even gak/ga/kaga/ogah/wegah (enggak itself is also a slang word.)
• Contracting the beginning three letters with the infix -ok- after the first letter (ended with closest consonant if the third letter is a vowel), for example:
  • Bapak / Ayah (father) into Bokap
  • Ibu (Mother) Into Nyokap
  • jual (sell) into jokul
  • bérak (defecate) into bokér
  • Bapak dan Ibu (Father and Mother) into bonyok
• Add prefix nge- or ng- to signify activity, for example:
  • ngebut (to go fast)
  • ngedance (dance)
  • ngedrink (drink)
  • ngedrug (do drugs)
  • ngegebet (to pick up)
  • ngafe (go to a café)
  • ngabur or ngacir (fleeing)
  • ngimpi (dreaming)
  • ngomong (speaking)
  • "ngiler" (drooling)

• Some words are simply transliterated from English, for example:

• Sorry into sori
• Friend into prén
• Swear into suér
• Brother into bro
• Sister into sis
• by the way into btw (bétéwé)

• Many words also emerged without following the above rules at all, many of which have their own unique history and/or origin. For example:

• Cuék (to ignore or to take something easy, or to be aloof) - Popularized by the Indonesian singer Ruth Sahanaya in her 80s hit Astaga; most likely derived from the Malay word cuai, that means 'negligent'.
• Do'i (boyfriend / girlfriend) - Originated from the word dia (him/her) transformed by inserting letter 'o' in the middle and deleting the last letter 'a'. It is later transformed into Doski.
• Bokép' (pornographic film) - Originated from abbreviation BF which means 'Blue Film'. BF is read 'Be-Ef', which in its pidgin form is read as Be-Ep. The word Bokep obtained by inserting infix -ok- in between 'Be-Ep'.
• Camer - calon mertua, future parents in-laws).
• Jayus / Garing - Lame or corny; meant to be or sound funny, but it is not. Garing originally means 'crispy'.
• Jijay ('Disgusting' or 'grotesque') - Originated from jijik. Sometimes used to express a condition of 'utmost disgust'. Used in the phrase jijay bajay.
• Jomblo (single) - Originated from Sundanese jomblo means 'unable to sell (the product)' or 'unrequited'.
• ABG / Abégé (teenagers) - Stands for 'Anak Baru Gede' - Literally means 'A child who just grown up'. The original Indonesian term is 'remaja', which means 'teen'.
• Cupu (out of date / not trendy) - Stands for culun punya. Culun itself is a slang means the same with cupu. Punya means 'have / possess / belonging'. It became popular when Pop Ice showed their advertisement on TV in 2007
• Gebetan (someone you’re keen on)
• Juték means 'sassy'.
• Lebai means 'overacting', originated from the word 'lebih' meaning 'more' that is read by a native English speaker, and transliterated.
• Alay literally means 'low class boys/ kids'. It comes from the words Anak Layangan (A = anak + Lay = layangan), which means children who hunts the cut-off kites on the streets because they can not afford to buy themselves the kite (layangan). It is often to associate street children with their typical characteristics: smelly, dirty, rarely bathing or brownly/ yellowish hair color that mostly caused spending too much time on the street during the day. On more modern context, this term also used to describe people (usually teenager) that blindly follow the trend, trying to act trendy yet (usually) fail due to overdid it.
• Beud comes from Banget that means very. This word is being so popular after CFC Advertisement on TV showed up word Beud
• Jebakan Betmen means literally 'Batman's trap' or 'Badman's trap' swhich means a planned prank
• Kimpoi means 'sexual intercourse' - "kimpoi" is from word "kawin"
• Pedekate or PDKT means 'pendekatan' - the stage of flirting or hitting on someone
• Tete'em or TTM is the acronym of 'teman tapi mesra' - which means friend but with more intimate relation. It sometimes also associated as casual sex partner.
• Putus aja - break up
• GR from 'gede rasa' - means literally 'having big feeling'. This phrase is used to show that someone has felt something that actually still unclear whether it can come true or not.
• Ja'im from 'jaga imej' - literally means 'keeping (a good) image'
• Matré means materialistic (abbreviated by materialistik)
• Telmi from 'telat mikir' (Dutch 'te laat' = too late, Indonesian 'mikir' < pikir = to think) - describes someone who is a little bit slow on the uptake.
• Nongkrong means hang out
• Kutu Kupret means bastard
• T-O-P B-G-T or 'top banget' means really cool or awesome