Family members in Malay Language. Ahli keluarga dalam Bahasa Melayu. Join us for Malay for beginner activity at Virtlantis, SecondLife, Sundays 2 am SLT/PDT.

1. Ahli Keluarga
Family Members
KELUARGA
family

2. IBU mother BAPA father ANAK child ANAK-ANAK children
Ibu Bapa
Anak
Ibubapa Anak lelaki Anak perempuan
parent son daughter

3. Ayah
Emak
Kakak
Abang
Adik (perempuan)

4. Adik kepada Bart,
kakak kepada Maggie.
Younger sister to Bart,
older sister to Maggie.
Bapa / Ayah Ibu / Emak Abang kepada Adik kepada
Father Mother Lisa & Maggie. Bart & Lisa
Older brother to Younger sister
both Lisa & Maggie. to Bart & Lisa.
If you want to be specific about gender
for younger brother / sister, just add Adik perempuan Adik lelaki
the gender. Younger sister Younger brother
Lelaki = male, perempuan = female

5. Various nouns for Malay family members
FATHER MOTHER
Bapa / Bapak / Pak Ibu
Ayah Emak / Mak
Abah Mama / Mami
Papa (western influence) (western influence)
Walid (Arab influence) Ummi / Ummu
Abi (Arab influence) (Arab influence)
Royal family / Classical Malay (sometimes used in letter)
Ayahanda : Father Bonda : Mother
Kekanda : Older Brother / Sister
Adinda : Younger Brother / Sister
note: Those in Italic are usually conversational.

6. IBU / EMAK
SAUDARA
Aunt
Makcik
BAPA / AYAH
SAUDARA
NENEK Uncle
DATUK
Grandmother Pakcik
Grandfather
Atuk/Tok /Aki Nek /Opah/Wan
Nephew / niece: Anak saudara*
Older male cousin: Abang saudara
Older female cousin: Kakak saudara
Younger cousin: Adik saudara
*Saudara = Relatives
Whatever the title as long as you have
blood relation, add ‘saudara’. i.e:
SEPUPU Nenek saudara, atuk saudara
Cousin mak saudara...
Trivia: Distant cousins = 2 pupu, 3 pupu... saudara = sedara (conversational)
depends on how far is the distance.

7. CULTURAL TRIVIA
• ABANG means older brother. In Malay culture, when a man and woman marry, or in
relationship, the woman may call the husband ‘abang’. Perhaps this is to portray that the
wife’s/lover’s love to her husband is as strong as a family blood and to show respect to
the ‘older’ one. It is a norm that the husband is older in age but it is not a compulsory.
The husband, may call the wife ADIK which means younger sister but this is pretty rare
except in courtship stances, the guys would probably say: ‘Hai cik adik manis’ (Hi sweet
little sister).
• KEKANDA (older brother/sister) and ADINDA (younger sister/brother) is classic or used by
royals. Similar to the reason above, you would see in older Malay dramas that the female
lover call her darling ‘kekanda’ and the male lover would call his darling ‘adinda’. I believe
some romantic husbands and wives still uses this display of romance.
• Malay also have special names for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, youngest child and so on. This may be an
influence from Chinese culture. i.e: Along - 1st child (Bang long / kak long), Angah - 2nd
child (Kak ngah/bang ngah), and Usu, derived from the word 'Bongsu' that means the last
child (Usu / Ucu).

8. CULTURAL TRIVIA (cont.)
• In Malay culture, age and maturity is usually a big deal. The ‘title’ to indicate one is
older than another one is often paired with one’s name to indicate respect to that
person’s maturity. We would use ‘bang’ (shorten from ‘abang’) and ‘kak’ (shorten from
‘kakak’) to call our older sisters and brothers instead of just calling their names (as in
western culture). For example, if my older sister’s name is Aminah, I would call her Kak
Aminah and if my brother’s name is Borhan I would call him Bang Borhan instead of
just Aminah and Borhan. Sadly, this tradition is fading away gradually in families due to
modernization and western influence.
• The above matter also applies to outside family members. When we see someone is
older than us, even strangers, the prefix ‘bang' and ‘kak’ is usually used. This is also why
we always call people / strangers ‘pakcik’ (uncle) and ‘makcik’ (aunty) when they are as
old as our parents :D. We also call ‘adik’/’dik’ for younger people.
• When strangers appear to be about the same age or if it’s a formal/serious occasions,
we normally use Encik (Mister) for him, Cik (Miss) or Puan (Madam) for her. Tuan (Sir) is
usually used on someone of higher rank or an officer.