barang-barang

English

Alternative forms

• barang barang

Etymology

Borrowed from Malay barang-barang (“stuff”).

Pronunciation

• (Singapore, Malaysia) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɹaŋ ˌbaɹaŋ/

Noun

barang-barang (uncountable)

1. (Singlish, Manglish) One's personal belongings; or more broadly, miscellaneous articles or things, paraphernalia.
   • 1987, Sylvia Toh Paik Choo, On the Buses, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Landmark Books, →ISBN, page 70:

     Please remove all your barang-barang from the empty space next to you.

   • 2021 May 11, Louis Ng Kok Kwang, “Providing Child Car Seats in Taxis and Private Hire Cars”, in Parliamentary Debates: Official Report (Parliament of Singapore), volume 95:

     Let me also address concerns about space. Taxis and PHCs [private-hire cars] have to carry whatever barang barang commuters bring. How can they squeeze two child car seats into storage?

References

• Lee, Jack Tsen-Ta (2004) “barang-barang”, in A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English‎^[1]