meng-

Inherited from Malay meng-, from Proto-Malayic *mAN-, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN-.

• IPA^(key): /məŋ/
• Hyphenation: mêng

• Audio:

  (file)

meng-

1. transitive agent focus, frequently but erroneously called "active voice", for AVO word order.
   • mengatur (“to arrange; arranges; arranging”)
   • membaca (“to read; reads; reading”)
   • mencabut (“to remove; removes; removing”)
   • menderma (“to donate; donates; donating”)
   • mengelak (“to avoid; avoids; avoiding”)
   • memahami (“to understand; understands; understanding”)
   • memfitnah (“to lie; lies; lying (about someone)”)
   • menggali (“to dig; digs; digging”)
   • menghantar (“to deliver; delivers; delivering”)
   • mengikat (“to tie; ties; tying”)
   • menjolok (“to poke; pokes; poking”)
   • mengira (“to count; counts; counting”)
   • melamar (“to propose; proposes; proposing”)
   • memakan (“to eat; eats; eating”)
   • menyanyi (“to sing; sings; singing”)
   • mengolah (“to edit; edits; editing”)
   • memukul (“to hit; hits; hitting”)
   • merawat (“to treat; treats; treating”)
   • menyapu (“to sweep; sweep; sweeping”)
   • menambah (“to add; adds; adding”)
   • mengurus (“to manage; manages; managing”)
   • mengebom (“to bomb; bombs; bombing”)
2. intransitive verbal prefix of a nominal root
   1. to become as the root
      • membatu (“to become a stone”)
   2. to function as the root, or to become similar as the root
      • menyupir (“to become a supir (“driver”), to drive”)
   3. to consume the root
      • merokok (“to consume a cigarette, to smoke”)
   4. to go toward the root
      • melaut (“to go toward sea, to sail”)
   5. to gather the root
   6. to sound as the root
3. intransitive verbal prefix of a adjectival root
   1. to become as the root
   2. to give effect as the root

• Along with the prefix peng-, this prefix are affected by initial consonant mutations.
• The standard forms are shown in the list below:
  • me- (IPA^(key): /mə/, before initials of /l/, /m/, /n/, /ɲ/ ⟨ny⟩, /ŋ/ ⟨ng⟩, /r/, /w/ and /j/ ⟨y⟩.)
  • mem- (IPA^(key): /məm/, before initials of /b/, /p/, /v/ or /f/, except initial per-, will remove initial /p/)
  • men- (IPA^(key): /mən/, before initials of /t͡ʃ/ ⟨c⟩, /d/, /d͡ʒ/ ⟨j⟩, /ʃ/ ⟨sy⟩, /t/, and /z/, will remove initial /t/.)
  • meng- (IPA^(key): /məŋ/, before initials of /g/, /h/, /k/ and all vowels /a/, /ə/ ⟨e⟩, /ɛ/ ⟨e⟩ ⟪é⟫, /i/, /o/, /u/, will sometimes remove initial /k/.)
  • menge- (IPA^(key): /məŋə/, before monosyllabic roots.)
  • meny- (IPA^(key): /məɲ/, before initials of /s/, will remove initial /s/.)
  • Such initial consonant losses are known as kaidah KPST "KPST rule", and those beginning in consonant clusters can be optionally undeleted as a form of non-standard spelling (program → memrogram, memprogram; kritik → mengritik, mengkritik, stabil → menytabilkan, menstabilkan). Note that the medial consonant clusters -mr-, -ngr- /ŋr/, -nyt- /ɲt/ is somewhat unusual, but the first forms are usually less common than second ones.
• The colloquial forms are shown, because of Betawi n-, in the list below:
  • n-
  • ng-
  • nge-
• For the word mempunyai, the initial /p/ is not removed because of habit or etymological reasons.
• For the word kaji has two prefixed forms, (regular) mengaji and (irregular) mengkaji, which have different meanings. The former means "to read Quran", while the latter means "to study".

• “meng-” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• me-, mem-, men-, meny-, menge-

From Proto-Malayic *mAN-, from Proto-Malayo-Chamic *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Sumbawan *maN-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *maN-.

• (with ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨ng⟩, ⟨ny⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨y⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /mə-/
  • Written as ⟨me-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎lawan (“to fight”) → ‎melawan

• (with ⟨p⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məm-/
  • Written as ⟨mem-⟩ without initial consonant except in non-native or unnativized words

    ‎meng- + ‎pakai (“to wear”) → ‎memakai

    ‎meng- + ‎proses (“to process”) → ‎memproses

• (with ⟨b⟩ and ⟨f⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məm-/
  • Written as ⟨mem-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎buat (“to do; to make”) → ‎membuat

• (with ⟨t⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /mən-/
  • Written as ⟨men-⟩ without initial consonant except in unnativized words

    ‎meng- + ‎telan (“to swallow”) → ‎menelan

    ‎meng- + ‎tafsir (“to interpret”) → ‎mentafsir

• (with ⟨d⟩ and ⟨z⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /mən-/
  • Written as ⟨men-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎dapat (“to get”) → ‎mendapat

• (with ⟨k⟩ and vowel-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məŋ-/
  • Written as ⟨meng-⟩ without initial consonant except in non-native or non-nativized words

    ‎meng- + ‎korek (“to dig”) → ‎mengorek

    ‎meng- + ‎kritik (“to critique”) → ‎mengkritik

• (with ⟨g⟩, ⟨kh⟩, ⟨gh⟩, and ⟨h⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məŋ-/
  • Written as ⟨meng-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎gambarkan (“to imagine”) → ‎menggambarkan

• (with ⟨s⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məɲ-/
    • In native or nativized words
    • Written as ⟨meny-⟩ without initial consonant

      ‎meng- + ‎sambut (“to celebrate”) → ‎menyambut

  • IPA^(key): /mən-/
    • In non-native or unnativized words
    • Written as ⟨men-⟩ with initial consonant
    • ‎meng- + ‎stabilkan (“to stabilize”) → ‎menstabilkan
• (with ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩-initial stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məɲ-/
  • Written as ⟨men-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎cari (“to search for”) → ‎mencari

• (with monosyllabic stems)
  • IPA^(key): /məŋə-/
  • Written as ⟨menge-⟩ with initial consonant

    ‎meng- + ‎cat (“to paint”) → ‎mengecat

meng- (Jawi spelling مڠ-)

1. Agent focus or active voice marker of a verb.
   1. Gives a meaning of doing an action.
      1. Doing something.

         ‎meng- + ‎karang (“composition”) → ‎mengarang (“to compose”)

      2. Letting out a voice.

         ‎meng- + ‎aum (“roar”) → ‎mengaum (“to roar”)

      3. Throwing away, searching for, or collecting something.

         ‎meng- + ‎rumput (“grass”) → ‎merumput (“to cut grass”)

      4. Approaching a target.

         ‎meng- + ‎tepi (“side”) → ‎menepi (“to go to the side”)

      5. Acting like or to be akin to something.

         ‎meng- + ‎bukit (“hill”) → ‎membukit (“to appear like a hill”)

   2. Gives a meaning of stating a condition.
      1. Living as something.

         ‎meng- + ‎bujang (“single”) → ‎membujang (“to be single”)

      2. Becoming something.

         ‎meng- + ‎putih (“white”) → ‎memutih (“to whiten, to become white”)

• In everyday spoken Malay, this prefix is usually not used with transitive verbs.

• meng- -i (active causitive or locative)
• meng- -kan (active causitive or benefactive)
• di- (passive)