Indonesian

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Etymology

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Affixed per- +‎ gawai (work), from Malay pegawai.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [pəˈɡawai̯]
  • Hyphenation: pê‧ga‧wai

Noun

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pêgawai (first-person possessive pegawaiku, second-person possessive pegawaimu, third-person possessive pegawainya)

  1. employee
    Synonyms: karyawan, pekerja
  2. (archaic) government officer, official
    Synonym: pejabat
  3. (archaic, figurative) tool, equipment, apparatus

Usage notes

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The word is part of false friends between Standard Malay and Indonesian due to shared etymology. The Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore usage can be seen in Malay pegawai.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Malay

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Etymology

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pe- +‎ gawai

Noun

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pegawai (Jawi spelling ڤݢاواي, plural pegawai-pegawai, informal 1st possessive pegawaiku, 2nd possessive pegawaimu, 3rd possessive pegawainya)

  1. officer; official

Usage notes

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The word is part of false friends between Standard Malay and Indonesian due to shared etymology. The Indonesian usage can be seen in Indonesian pegawai.

References

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  • Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “ڤݢاوي pĕgawei”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, page 100
  • Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “ڤݢاوي pĕgawai”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 466
  • Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “pĕgawai”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 227

Further reading

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