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Malaysia

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Malaysia

  • /məˈleɪ̯ʒə/ UK, US
  • /məˈleɪ̯zi.ə/ UK, US
  • /məˈlɛjʒə/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /məˈlɛjzɪjə/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /məˈleʒə/ Scotland
  • /məˈleze.ə/ Scotland
  • /-ɪ.ə/ Scotland
  • /-iə/ Scotland
  • /məˈleːʒə/ Wales
  • /məˈleːzi.ə/ Wales
  • /məlejsiə/ Malaysia
  • /məlejʃə/ Malaysia
  • /mɐˈleɪ̯.ʃɐ/ Philippines

Where it comes from

Affixation of Malay + -sia (alternative form of -ia), coined by British geographers in the 19th century as one of several terms used to refer to the Malay Archipelago, can be translated as "land of the Malays".

A popular folk etymology holds that the country name was formed by adding ⟨-si-⟩ to Malaya, short for the former Federation of Malaya, to honour the inclusion of Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) when the country was formed.

proper noun

  1. A country in Southeast Asia. Capital: Kuala Lumpur.
  2. obsolete The Malay Archipelago. For the purpose of topographical description, Malaysia may be divided into six groups of islands, namely — 1. Sumatra, and the smaller islands adjacent ; 2. The long chain of islands which extends east and west from the Strait of Sunda to New Guinea, including Java, Madura, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Co

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: malaya, indonesia, singapore, putrajaya, malaysian, malayan, malay, maldivian, thailand, maldives, namibia, morocco, china, ukraine, croatia, senegal

Translations

Every language

name country in Southeast Asia

EspañolMalasia
한국어말레이시아 Malleisia
日本語マレーシア Marēshia
中文馬來西亞 /马来西亚 Mǎláixīyà
हिन्दीमलेशिया maleśiyā
KiswahiliMalaysia, Malesia
PortuguêsMalásia
FrançaisMalaisie
DeutschMalaysia, Malaysien
ItalianoMalesia
ΕλληνικάΜαλαισία Malaisía
RomânăMalaezia, Malaysia
РусскийМала́йзия Malájzija
Tiếng ViệtMa-lai-xi-a, Mã Lai
العربيةمَالَيْزِيَا malayziyā
עבריתמָלֶזְיָה malezya

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"Malaysia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/malaysia. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

Malaysia. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/malaysia

Chicago

"Malaysia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/malaysia.

BibTeX
@misc{malaysia_2026,
  title = {Malaysia},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/malaysia},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}