Where does “Malaysia” come from?
Malaysia derives from Malay via the English place name Malaya, from Latin -ia, Ancient Greek -ία, and Proto-Indo-European -h₂, a suffix forming abstract nouns.
Ancestry of “Malaysia”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Malay | Of or relating to the Malays, a people living in... |
| 2 | Malay | Melayu | Malay |
| 3 | Malay | Malayu | — |
| 4 | Old Javanese | layū | — |
| 5 | Proto-Sunda-Sulawesi | lariw | — |
| 6 | Proto-Malayo-Polynesian | laʀiw | — |
| 7 | Proto-Austronesian | laʀiw | — |
Words derived from “Malaysia”