tengah

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay tengah (“center”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *təŋaq.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [təˈŋah]
• Hyphenation: tê‧ngah

Noun

têngah (first-person possessive tengahku, second-person possessive tengahmu, third-person possessive tengahnya)

1. middle
2. centre, center

   Synonym: pusat

3. half

   Synonyms: paruh, perdua

Derived terms

• diketengahi
• diketengahkan
• ditengahi
• menengah
• menengahi
• mengetengahi
• mengetengahkan
• penengah
• pertengahan
• setengah
• setengah-setengah
• tengahan

 

• ke tengah
• tengah hari
• tengah kanan
• tengah kiri
• tengah malam
• tengah naik
• tengah pusat
• tengah tahunan

 

• garis tengah
• jari tengah

 

Conjunction

têngah

1. while: during the same time that.

   Synonyms: ketika, sementara

Adverb

têngah

1. (auxiliary) progressive aspect without necessarily a final perspective.

   Synonym: sedang

Further reading

• “tengah” 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.

Javanese

Etymology

From Old Javanese tĕngah.

Noun

tengah

1. middle
2. center
3. navel

Malay

Alternative forms

• tgah, tgh (SMS slang)

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *təŋaq. Cognate with Balinese tengah, Cebuano tunga; and distantly with Maori tonga (“south”), Samoan toga (“south”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /təŋah/
• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /təŋäh/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /təŋah/
• Rhymes: -ŋah, -ah

Adverb

tengah (Jawi spelling تڠه)

1. (colloquial) in the middle of doing, currently

   Synonym: sedang

   Kak Tam tengah buat apa, sekarang?

   What is Kak Tam doing right now?

   • 2005 [1849], Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, edited by Amin Sweeney, Hikayat Abdullah (Karya Lengkap Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi; 3)‎^[1], Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, →ISBN, page 427:

     Maka pada masa itu aku tengah mengajar seorang2 saudagar di rumah Tuan John Morgan.

     Still at that time I was in the middle of teaching a merchant at the house of Lord John Morgan.

Noun

tengah (Jawi spelling تڠه, informal 1st possessive tengahku, 2nd possessive tengahmu, 3rd possessive tengahnya)

1. middle, midst, centre

   Ada seekor beruang di tengah padang itu.

   There's a bear in the middle of the field.

Derived terms

Affixed terms and other derivations

Regular affixed derivations:

• setengah [comparability] (se-)
• pertengah [causative passive] (peR-)
• pertengahan [causative passive + resultative / locative / collective / variety / verbal noun / fruit] (peR- + -an)
• menengah [agent focus] (meN-)
• tengah-tengah [reduplication] (redup)

See also

• pusat

Further reading

• “tengah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.