Where does “melawak” come from?

melawak (Indonesian) comes from Indonesian meng-, from Malay meng-, from Proto-Malayic *mAN-, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN- — inflectional prefix marking actor voice.

melawak (Indonesian): to joke around

Definitions

  1. to joke around

Ancestry of “melawak”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Indonesianmeng-agent focus, frequently but erroneously called...
2Malaymeng-agent focus, frequently but erroneously called...
3Proto-Malayic*mAN-—
4Proto-Malayo-Chamic*maN-—
5Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan*maN-—
6Proto-Malayo-Polynesian*maN-inflectional prefix marking actor voice
Every word from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN- →Every word from Indonesian meng- →Every word from Malay meng- →