uncle

Bislama: angkel

→ Burmese: အန်ကယ် (ankai)

⇒ Chinese: 安哥 (āngē)

→ Hawaiian: ʻanakala

→ Hindi: अंकल (aṅkal)

→ Irish: uncail

→ Scottish Gaelic: uncail

Tok Pisin: ankol

Torres Strait Creole: ankel

→ Welsh: wncl

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os
Latin avunculus
Old French unclebor.
Middle English uncle
English uncle
From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced native Middle English em (“uncle”) from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera (“paternal uncle”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.

der

(Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, informal) Any middle-aged or elderly man older than the speaker and/or listener.


chop

→ Cantonese: chop (cop1)

→ Macanese: chop

Borrowed from Hindi छाप (chāp, “stamp”). Closely related to the similarly descended Malay word cap, which likely reinforced the English usage within the Malay world.

(colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) A stamp or seal; a mark, imprint or impression on a document (or other object or material) made by stamping or sealing a design with ink or wax, respectively, or by other methods.

(colloquial, by extension, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) The device used for stamping or sealing, which also contains the design to be imprinted.


chop

en-verb

chop (third-person singular simple present chops, present participle chopping, simple past and past participle chopped)

chops (present singular third-person)
chopping (participle present)
chopped (participle past)
chopped (past)

(transitive, colloquial, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) To stamp or seal (a document); to mark, impress or otherwise place a design or symbol on paper or other material, usually, but not necessarily, to indicate authenticity.


tomato sauce

en-noun

tomato sauce (usually uncountable, plural tomato sauces)

A plastic tomato sauce bottle, which could have been cut in half to make a flower pot, was quickly surveyed along with other trophies, and received the death sentence. “In the bin, Bob.”

1979 June, Peter C. Harper, Robert Alexander Falla K.B.E., C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.N.Z.: An Appreciation, page 356:

1980 January-May, Laurence Le Guay, Cruising World, page 98,
I quickly learned that there is a hell of a difference between tomato sauce and ketchup and that there is an even greater difference when it comes to mayonnaise: real American or the pseudo Australian — and I had always believed this to be a French concoction.

The event was a BBQ in the peaceful and picturesque System Garden at the University of Melbourne, Parkville campus. Food was plentifil and included a variety of sausages and veggie burgers, onions, bread and tomato sauce in addition to soft drinks.

2003 March, Microbiology Australia, page 46:

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) Tomato ketchup, used as a condiment.


rubber

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

desc

→ Kashubian: roberk (Canada, United States)

→ Sikaiana: lapa

From rub + -er.
The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.

2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148:

Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.

2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page:

Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.

2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page:

(countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.


American football

tlb

(UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei)

"Chain mail, or an American football suit - that's what you'll want."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

A team sport similar to rugby football, played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.


bioscope

→ Kurtöp: བེས་ཀོབ (beskop)

From bio- + -scope. Modern use in South Africa is under the influence of Afrikaans bioskoop.

Like their Western brothers, groups of native youths [in Burma] from out-lying places set out cheerfully on Saturday nights to visit the nearest "Bioscope", as they call the cinema[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 175:

(South Africa, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, dated) A cinema or movie theatre.


kampung

kampungs (plural)
campong (alternative archaic)
kampong (alternative dated)

Borrowed from Indonesian kampung, and/or its etymon Malay kampung (“enclosure; quarter of a town occupied by a certain nationality; village”). Doublet of kampang.
Cognates
* Dutch kampoeng

bor

They came from solitary huts in the wilderness, from populous campongs, from villages by the sea. At the call of an idea they had left their forests, their clearings, the protection of their rulers, their prosperity, their poverty, the surroundings of their youth and the graves of their fathers.

1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 14:

Margio seldom saw his mother happy, and often thought of doing things to cheer her up. He would go back to their kampong and look for gifts for her.

2015, Eka Kurniawan, chapter 4, in Labodalih Sembiring, transl., Man Tiger […], London, New York, N.Y.: Verso, →ISBN, page 107:

(Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) A traditional village.


serai

(Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) lemongrass


amah

From Portuguese ama (“female nurse”), from Medieval Latin amma (“wet nurse, amma”), perhaps an alteration of Latin mamma, of imitative origin, or from Ancient Greek.

Then one day he disappeared and when Luke called apprehensively at his apartment the old amah told him that ‘Whisky Papa runrun London fastee.’

1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 20:

(Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia) A female domestic helper; a maid.


keris

Borrowed from Malay keris, doublet of kalis.

(chiefly Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) Alternative spelling of kris.


rakyat

(Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia) An ordinary citizen.


ketupat

(Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) An Asian dumpling made from rice wrapped in a woven palm-leaf pouch and boiled.


handphone

handphones (plural)
hand phone (alternative)
hand-phone (alternative)

→ Korean: 핸드폰 (haendeupon)

From hand + phone. For the sense of mobile phone, compare with Chinese 手機 /手机 (shǒujī, literally “hand machine”) and Korean 손전화 (sonjeonhwa, literally “hand telephone”).

cog

(Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, South Korea, Hawaii) A mobile phone.


lady's finger

Abelmoschus esculentus
Abelmoschus esculentus#Translingual

(chiefly India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei) Okra; an edible capsules of Abelmoschus esculentus.


aircon

en-noun

aircon (countable and uncountable, plural aircons)

→ Central Dusun: iikon

→ Brunei Malay: ekon

→ Indonesian: erkon

→ Japanese: エアコン (eakon)

→ Korean: 에어컨 (eeokeon)

→ Tagalog: erkon

→ Tausug: ilkun/irkun

And when I suggested turning the aircon off to make the battery last longer, he threw back his head and laughed; later I read that the car’s economy driving mode does exactly that, turning off aircon to extend the car’s range.

2015 September 10, Jemima Kiss, “Clean and green, but an electric car can give a driver some shocks”, in The Guardian:

using the aircon at mid-setting or at 25 degrees Celsius for maximum efficiency.

2019 September 9, “Meralco rates down for the fifth straight month”, in Manila Bulletin, archived from the original on 2019-09-22:

(UK, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, abbreviation, informal) Alternative form of air-con (“air conditioning”).


telekung

telekung (usually uncountable, plural telekungs)

telekungs (plural)
telekong (alternative)

The third type [of scarf] is the tudung dakwah or mini telekung (religious scarf).

1984 January 9, A. Rahim A. Latiff, “Well covered:The scarves”, in The Straits Times, Singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

A survey done in Universiti Kebangsaan (National University) showed that the percentage of female students wearing telekongs had shot up to 80 per cent from 15 per cent in 1973-1974.

1984 December 2, Frieda Koh, “Pas-Umno fight changes people's ways”, in Singapore Monitor (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

Bukit Tinggi's Pasar Tingkat (market with many storeys): embroided bedsheets for $55 each at half Singapore's prices, decorative banana plants made of plastic, batik shirts, scarves and embroided telekung (prayer gowns).

1989 March 26, “Indulging a pasar passion”, in The Straits Times, Singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

In the case of the gifts for the bride, the items that undergo marvellous transformations are the four-metre lace or silk dress material, songket sarong, cotton telekung (prayer garb), selendang (scarf), towel and the woolen or synthetic fibre prayer mat.

1989 March 14, Mardiana Abu Bakar, “Malay-style origami for wedding gifts”, in The Straits Times, Singapore (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

When everyone is ready, Faridah, who dons a telekung (prayer wear), and her family position themselves to face the kiblat (direction of Mekah).

2013 August 8, Mei Fung Lee, “Daily struggles not a barrier to fasting”, in The Jakarta Post, Indonesia (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

Daily necessities include women’s clothing, telekung (a prayer robe for women), men’s clothing, children’s clothing and school bags.

2015 February 23, Hassanal Harries, “Finding meaning through helping others”, in The Brunei Times, Brunei (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

KUALA TERENGGANU: A 56-year-old trader lost about RM40,000 when her stall was broken into by thieves who carted away telekung that was for sale and cash on Saturday.

2015 July 27, Zarina Abdullah, “Woman loses RM40k after thieves break into telekung stall”, in New Straits Times, Malaysia (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

The telekung, worn by Muslim women to pray, traditionally comes in white.

2017 March 15, Aznim Ruhana Md Yusup, “Fashion ambivalence”, in New Straits Times, Malaysia (Usenet), retrieved 2017-10-29:

(Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei) A prayer garment, usually worn by Southeast Asian Muslim women, consisting of two pieces: a loosely-draped one-piece hijab that extends to the knees and a long skirt that hides the feet.


rentice

A rentice (path) was then cleared along a straight line from Bukit Kepayang to the Jenka pass. Pegs were driven in along this rentice at 100-yard intervals, the spacing of the pegs being measured by a ¼-inch diameter wire rope 300 feet long.

1944, Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers, volumes 23-24, page 53:

(Brunei, Malaysia) An access path cleared through vegetation to facilitate mineral exploration or the construction, safe operation and maintenance of power transmission lines or pipelines.


Mohd

(chiefly India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) Abbreviation of Mohammed.


departmental store

departmental store (plural departmental stores)

AEON Co (M) Bhd, the operator for the Japanese-owned hypermarket chain, had downsized its departmental store areas in several locations and refurbished the stores to concentrate on food items.

2019 July 15, Shaheera Aznam Shah, “Hypermarkets face a bleak future on waning appetite”, in The Malaysian Reserve:

The liquidator of the famed Robinson's departmental store has vehemently rebutted any inappropriate retrenchment of its employees, following the closing of its business, recently.

2021 January 26, Adrian David, “Robinson's liquidator rebutts inappropriate retrenchment allegations”, in New Straits Times:

(India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) department store


ajinomoto

monosodium glutamate
monosodium glutamate

(Singapore, India, Myanmar, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan) monosodium glutamate


gostan

Borrowed from Malay gostan, from English go astern.

(colloquial, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) To go backwards; to reverse (a vehicle).


Hari Raya Puasa

(Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) Eid al-Fitr


mee goreng

From mee + Malay goreng, with mee from Hokkien 麵 /面 (mī).

(Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) fried noodles


BSB

Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan#English

(Brunei) Initialism of Bandar Seri Begawan.


mi goreng

Borrowed from Malay mi goreng, from mi + goreng, with Malay mi from Hokkien 麵 /面 (mī).

(Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) fried noodles


RBAF

Royal Brunei Armed Forces
w:Royal Brunei Armed Forces

(Brunei, military) Initialism of Royal Brunei Armed Forces.


RBN

(Brunei, military, nautical) Initialism of Royal Brunei Navy.


RBLF

Royal Brunei Land Force
w:Royal Brunei Land Force

(Brunei, military) Initialism of Royal Brunei Land Force.


RBPF

Royal Brunei Police Force
w:Royal Brunei Police Force

(Brunei, law enforcement) Initialism of Royal Brunei Police Force.


MinDef

Ministry of Defence (Brunei)
w:Ministry of Defence (Brunei)

(Brunei, military) Abbreviation of Ministry of Defence (Brunei).