Kata ganda🍃Why some words are repeated in Malay
When you see a word being repeated, like meja-meja, it is categorised as kata ganda. They are words that you repeat to add a certain meaning.
A word that you might hear a lot is sama-sama. While this means "you're welcome", it can also mean:
- to be together
- mutually
Example:
🛒 Jom pergi ke kedai sama-sama.
🛒 Let's go to the shop together.
🙌 Rakyat sama-sama menolong semasa dilanda kesempitan hidup waktu pandemik.
🙌 People helped each other in the face of difficulty during the pandemic.
Original meaning ⤵️
Sama on its own means "to be the same".
Why do we use Kata Ganda?
1️⃣ to make it plural
meja: table
meja-meja: tables
2️⃣ to convey similarity
siku: elbow
pembaris sesiku: T/L-square ruler (a ruler that has a 90-degree angle)
3️⃣to show variety
macam: like, as
macam-macam: many different kinds
4️⃣ to make it indefinite
bila: when
bila-bila: whenever
5️⃣ to show repetitive action
melompat: jumping
melompat-lompat: jumping repeatedly
6️⃣ to show prolonged action
tunggu: to wait
tertunggu-tunggu: to keep waiting for a long time
7️⃣ to show an intense action
sungguh: very, really
bersungguh-sungguh: diligently, to be diligent
8️⃣ to convey a back-and-forth action
suap: to feed
suap-menyuap: to feed each other
9️⃣ to use an adjective on everything in a category
besar: to be big
besar-besar: to be big in general/to be big on the whole
1️⃣0️⃣ ...😉 sometimes it's just the nature of the word
biri: (no meaning)
biri-biri: sheep
➕ Extra linguistic information
Why do the repetitions look different?
There are 3 main ways to repeat words:
🌕 Full repetition
For example, "kura" is repeated twice in kura-kura (tortoise). This word is just the name of the animal and doesn't necessarily mean it's plural.
🌗 Partial repetition
"Kuda" is repeated partially in kekuda (vaulting horse/a type of structure). This word comes from the similarity of some structures and objects with an actual horse.
🌜🎶Rhyming repetition
Kacau means "to disturb", but to say that a situation is "chaotic", we say kacau-bilau. The repetition is based on the rhyming scheme -au at the end.
Contrast this with another kata ganda made from kacau:
kacau-kacau: to stir repeatedly/continuously (when cooking)
