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pegawai. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
pegawai, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
pegawai in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
pegawai you have here. The definition of the word
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Indonesian
Etymology
Affixed pe- + gawai (“work”), from Malay pegawai.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key):
- Hyphenation: pê‧ga‧wai
Noun
pêgawai (first-person possessive pegawaiku, second-person possessive pegawaimu, third-person possessive pegawainya)
- employee
- Synonyms: karyawan, pekerja
- (archaic) government officer, official
- Synonym: pejabat
- (archaic, figurative) tool, equipment, apparatus
Usage notes
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
Further reading
Malay
Etymology
pe- + gawai
Noun
pegawai (Jawi spelling ڤݢاواي, plural pegawai-pegawai, informal 1st possessive pegawaiku, 2nd possessive pegawaimu, 3rd possessive pegawainya)
- officer; official
Usage notes
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.
Further reading