“Alamak” And “Nasi Lemak” Are Now Official Oxford English Dictionary Entries!
“Tapau” and “Mat Rempit” were also added in the dictionary’s March 2025 update.
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In many languages, there are words which are simply untranslatable, short of giving it a direct translation.
Because of this, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has included a number of Malaysian and Singaporean words or terms in its latest March update.
One of the them is a word we’re all too familiar with – Alamak – which is used to convey surprise, shock, or dismay.
According to a commentary from the publisher, Oxford University Press, The word’s ultimate origin is uncertain; it could have come from ala ‘highest, exalted’, from the Arabic aʿlā ‘higher, highest’ or Allah ‘god’, from Arabic allāh, combined with mak ‘mother’, perhaps originally after the Portuguese expression Mãe de Deus, literally ‘Mother of God’, Santa Mãe, literally ‘Holy Mother’, or another similar utterance. A comparable interjection, alamah, is used in Kristang, a Malay-Portuguese creole language.
Several food-related words were also added in the update
As Malaysians, we should all be so proud that our foods are gaining more international recognition.
Here are the Malaysian delicacies that were added in the OED’s latest edition and their descriptions according to the publisher’s statement:
“Ketupat” (1886) – Small rice cake boiled in a pouch of woven palm leaves, originating in Indonesia but also popular in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is usually eaten with satay or other dishes and is traditionally served at festive occasions.
“Otak-otak” (1929) – A Southeast Asian dish consisting of ground fish or other seafood mixed with spices and coconut milk, wrapped in banana or palm leaves, and cooked by steaming or grilling over an open charcoal fire.
“Nasi lemak” (1935) – A Malay dish of rice cooked in coconut milk and flavoured with pandan leaf, served with various garnishes such as cucumber slices, fried fish, roasted peanuts, cooked egg, and sambal
“Kaya toast” (1989) – A sandwich consisting of two slices of toasted bread spread with butter and kaya, a jam made from coconut milk, eggs, and sugar, usually flavoured with pandan leaf. Kaya toast is also a popular afternoon snack, typically served in Malaysian and Singaporean kopitiams, accompanied by a half-boiled egg.
Meanwhile, Malay foods with Anglicised names such as “fish head curry” (1972) and “steamboat” (1960) were also included in the update.
They even added “Tapau” (1997), which is a word that is almost always associated to food here.
“Mat Rempit” and “Terror” are now also OED-official
As a term that carries a negative connotation, the statement described “Mat Rempit” (2004) as a (typically young) man who participates in illegal motorcycle street racing and often performs dangerous stunts.
The stunts that mat rempits perform can sometimes be perceived as “terror”, which in English refers to extreme fear, but is used as an adjective in Malaysia as a general term of approval meaning “admirable” or “excellent”. Most times, it’s spelled “terer”.
Oxford University Press said a word will be considered for inclusion in the OED when it has gathered independent examples from a good variety of sources, and evidence that the word has been in use for a reasonable amount of time.
OED’s consultants for Malaysian loanwords are Prof Stefanie Pillai of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics in University of Malaya, and Stuart Robson, adjunct associate professor from Monash University.
Check out more Malaysian word entries in the OED in their March 2025 update HERE.
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