Where does “sayang” come from?

sayang (Indonesian) comes from Malay sayang, from Austronesian *sayaŋ.

sayang (Indonesian): love

Definitions

  1. love

Ancestry of “sayang”, step by step

sayang traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Malay sayang

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Malaysayanglove
2Austronesian*sayaŋ—

via Javanese ꦱꦪꦁ

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Javaneseꦱꦪꦁ—
2Old Javanesesayaṅ—

via Sanskrit स्वामी

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Sanskritस्वामी—

Words derived from “sayang”

Every word from Austronesian *sayaŋ →Every word from Malay sayang →