meng-

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• nge- (informal)

Etymology

From Malay meng-, Proto-Malayic *mAN-, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məŋ/
• Hyphenation: mêng

• Audio

  (file)

Prefix

meng-

1. transitive agent focus, frequently but erroneously called "active voice", for AVO word order.
   • mengatur (“to arrange; arranges; arranging”)
   • membaca (“to read; reads; reading”)
   • mencabut (“to remove; removes; removing”)
   • menderma (“to donate; donates; donating”)
   • mengelak (“to avoid; avoids; avoiding”)
   • memahami (“to understand; understands; understanding”)
   • memfitnah (“to lie; lies; lying (about someone)”)
   • menggali (“to dig; digs; digging”)
   • menghantar (“to deliver; delivers; delivering”)
   • mengikat (“to tie; ties; tying”)
   • menjolok (“to poke; pokes; poking”)
   • mengira (“to count; counts; counting”)
   • melamar (“to propose; proposes; proposing”)
   • memakan (“to eat; eats; eating”)
   • menyanyi (“to sing; sings; singing”)
   • mengolah (“to edit; edits; editing”)
   • memukul (“to hit; hits; hitting”)
   • merawat (“to treat; treats; treating”)
   • menyapu (“to sweep; sweep; sweeping”)
   • menambah (“to add; adds; adding”)
   • mengurus (“to manage; manages; managing”)
   • mengebom (“to bomb; bombs; bombing”)
2. intransitive verbal prefix of a nominal root
   1. to become as the root
      • membatu (“to become a stone”)
   2. to function as the root, or to become similar as the root
      • menyupir (“to become a supir (“driver”), to drive”)
   3. to consume the root
      • merokok (“to consume a cigarette, to smoke”)
   4. to go toward the root
      • melaut (“to go toward sea, to sail”)
   5. to gather the root
   6. to sound as the root
3. intransitive verbal prefix of a adjectival root
   1. to become as the root
   2. to give effect as the root

Usage notes

• Along with the prefix peng-, this prefix are affected by initial consonant mutations.
• The standard forms are shown in the list below:
  • me- (IPA^(key): /mə/, before initials of /l/, /m/, /n/, /ɲ/ ⟨ny⟩, /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩, /r/, /w/ and /j/ ⟨y⟩.)
  • mem- (IPA^(key): /məm/, before initials of /b/, /p/, /v/ or /f/, except initial per-, will remove initial /p/)
  • men- (IPA^(key): /mən/, before initials of /t͡ʃ/ ⟨c⟩, /d/, /d͡ʒ/ ⟨j⟩, /ʃ/ ⟨sy⟩, /t/, and /z/, will remove initial /t/.)
  • meng- (IPA^(key): /məŋ/, before initials of /g/, /h/, /k/ and all vowels /a/, /ə/ ⟨e⟩, /ɛ/ ⟨e⟩ ⟪é⟫, /i/, /o/, /u/, will sometimes remove initial /k/.)
  • menge- (IPA^(key): /məŋə/, before monosyllabic roots.)
  • meny- (IPA^(key): /məɲ/, before initials of /s/, will remove initial /s/.)
  • Such initial consonant losses are known as kaidah KPST "KPST rule", and those beginning in consonant clusters can be optionally undeleted as a form of non-standard spelling (program → memrogram, memprogram; kritik → mengritik, mengkritik, stabil → menytabilkan, menstabilkan). Note that the medial consonant clusters -mr-, -ngr- /ŋr/, -nyt- /ɲt/ is somewhat unusual, but the first forms are usually less common than second ones.
• The colloquial forms are shown, because of Betawi n-, in the list below:
  • n-
  • ng-
  • nge-
• For the word mempunyai, the initial /p/ is not removed because of habit or etymological reasons.
• For the word kaji has two prefixed forms, (regular) mengaji and (irregular) mengkaji, which have different meanings. The former means "to read Quran", while the latter means "to study".

Derived terms

Further reading

• “meng-” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Malay

Alternative forms

• me-, mem-, men-, meny-, menge-

Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *mAN-, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (before /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /ɲ/, /r/, /w/, /j/) /mə/
• IPA^(key): (before /b/, /p/, /f/) /məm/
• IPA^(key): (before /t͡ʃ/, /d/, /d͡ʒ/, /t/, /z/) /mən/
• IPA^(key): (before /ɡ/, /h/, /k/, vowels) /məŋ/
• IPA^(key): (before /s/) /məɲ/
• IPA^(key): (before monosyllabic roots) /məŋə/

Prefix

meng- (Jawi spelling مڠـ)

1. agent focus, frequently but erroneously called "active voice", for AVO word order.

   ‎meng- + ‎atur → ‎mengatur (“to arrange; arranges; arranging”)

   ‎mem- + ‎baca → ‎membaca (“to read; reads; reading”)

   ‎men- + ‎cabut → ‎mencabut (“to remove; removes; removing”)

   ‎men- + ‎derma → ‎menderma (“to donate; donates; donating”)

   ‎meng- + ‎elak → ‎mengelak (“to avoid; avoids; avoiding”)

   ‎mem- + ‎faham + ‎-i → ‎memahami (“to understand; understands; understanding”)

   ‎mem- + ‎fitnah → ‎memfitnah (“to lie; lies; lying (about someone)”)

   ‎meng- + ‎gali → ‎menggali (“to dig; digs; digging”)

   ‎meng- + ‎hantar → ‎menghantar (“to deliver; delivers; delivering”)

   ‎meng- + ‎ikat → ‎mengikat (“to tie; ties; tying”)

   ‎men- + ‎jolok → ‎menjolok (“to poke; pokes; poking”)

   ‎meng- + ‎kira → ‎mengira (“to count; counts; counting”)

   ‎me- + ‎lamar → ‎melamar (“to propose; proposes; proposing”)

   ‎me- + ‎makan → ‎memakan (“to eat; eats; eating”)

   ‎me- + ‎nyanyi → ‎menyanyi (“to sing; sings; singing”)

   ‎meng- + ‎olah → ‎mengolah (“to edit; edits; editing”)

   ‎mem- + ‎pukul → ‎memukul (“to hit; hits; hitting”)

   ‎me- + ‎rawat → ‎merawat (“to treat; treats; treating”)

   ‎meny- + ‎sapu → ‎menyapu (“to sweep; sweep; sweeping”)

   ‎men- + ‎sia-sia + ‎-kan → ‎mensia-siakan (“to make futile”)

   ‎men- + ‎tadbir → ‎mentadbir (“to administer; administers; administering”)

   ‎men- + ‎tambah → ‎menambah (“to add; adds; adding”)

   ‎men- + ‎takut-takut + ‎-kan → ‎menakut-nakutkan (“terrifying”)

   ‎meng- + ‎urus → ‎mengurus (“to manage; manages; managing”)

   ‎menge- + ‎bom → ‎mengebom (“to bomb; bombs; bombing”)

Usage notes

• (before l, m, n, ng, ny, r, w and y), meng- will be written as me-.
• (before b and f), meng- will be written as mem-.
• (before p and rarely f), meng- will be written as mem- and will require the removal of the first p or f.
• (before c, d, j and z), meng- will be written as men-.
• (before t), meng- will be written as men- and will require the removal of the first t.
• (before g and h), meng- remains written as meng-.
• (before k), meng- remains written as meng- and will require the removal of the first k.
• (before s), meng- will be written as meny- and will require the removal of the first s.
• (before monosyllabic roots) meng- will be written as menge-.