This document provides descriptions of human physical characteristics in the Malay language. It describes features such as height, body size, skin color, hair, face shape, and other facial features. Descriptions include words like "tall, short, thin, fat, dark skin, fair skin, straight hair, curly hair" and face shapes like "oval, square." It notes that some terms like "fat" or "Negro" could be considered rude and provides alternatives. Examples are given of describing a person's characteristics in Malay.

1. Bahasa Melayu
Rupa Manusia
(Human Look)

2. Ketinggian (Height)
Tinggi (tall) Rendah (short)
Pendek*
*usually a little rude to some. It is the correct word to describe short. However, it is a little
impolite to use on people you don’t know so well.

3. Saiz tubuh (Body size)
Kurus (thin) Gemuk* (fat)
• Gempal (chubby)
• Berisi (fleshy)
*usually a little rude to some. It is the correct word to describe fat. However, it is a little
impolite to use on people you don’t know so well.

4. Medium = Sederhana / Sedang*
*informal
Contoh:
Perempuan itu tinggi atau rendah? (Is the lady tall or short?)
Perempuan itu sederhana tinggi OR sederhana rendah. (She’s of medium height.)
Awak kurus ke gemuk?* (Are you thin or fat?)
Sedang-sedang (s)aja.* (Just so-so.)
Agak & agak-agak = to estimate / quite
(used when we don’t want or unsure of the accuracy of the description)
Contoh:
Bagaimana ketinggian perompak itu? (How tall is the robber?)
Dia agak tinggi, tingginya lebih kurang 7 kaki.
(He’s quite tall, about 7 feet.

5. Mata bulat / mata bundar Mata sepet
(big round eyes) (slit eyes)
Hidung mancung Hidung kemek / pesek Hidung kembang
(Protruded nose) (Flat nose) (‘expanded’ nose)

6. Kulit Gelap (Dark skin) Kulit Cerah (Fair skin)

7. Orang kulit hitam Orang kulit putih
Orang Negro* Orang putih
African / Black people Mat Salleh***
(including Afro-american, Sudanese...) Caucasian / any white-skinned people
(**including white-skinned European)
*In the past, ‘orang negro’ is not considered rude/offensive until ‘world culture’ say so. Now,
it is more appropriate to say ‘orang kulit hitam’.
**In the past, every type of people / race with red-white skin and protruding nose are called
‘orang putih’ regardless if they may not (i.e: italian/latino/french, etc.). Now, awareness
increase due to globalization & technology, so we usually refer the specific. Originally, ‘orang
putih’ is the English people (British people who colonized Malaya) in WW2).
*** Informal but widely used amongst Malays (and even Malaysian too).

8. Malay specific description of skin colour
sawo matang
brown/medium colour.
Sawo = ‘ciku’ (fruit)
Matang = ripe
It is the colour of the ripe ciku fruit.
kuning langsat
Yellow skin. Langsat = a type hitam manis (sweet black)
of fruit. This is a nice description of
Usually referring to Chinese dark-skinned people as usually
skin or the people with
fair-skinned Malay. dark skin have a sweet face and
features.

9. RAMBUT (hair)
rambut pendek rambut panjang
(short hair) (long hair)
rambut keriting rambut ikal mayang
rambut lurus
/kerinting / rambut berombak (straight hair)
(curly hair) (wavy hair / hair with loose curls)

10. rambut perang
(blonde, brown, auburn hair and rambut hitam
coloured/ dyed hair (not red or blue though!)) (black hair)

11. BENTUK MUKA (face shape)
muka bujur sirih muka petak / muka bersegi
(oval with specific bettle leaf shape) (square face/ angled face)
muka bulat muka bujur muka panjang
(round face) (oval face) (long face)

12. Raut wajah (face features)
kening nipis
kening tebal (thin brow)
(thick brow)
bibir tebal
(thick lips)
bibir nipis
(thin lips)

13. Extra Features
lesung pipit
(dimple) dagu terbelah
(cleft chin)
misai
(moustache) janggut
(beard)

14. LATIHAN (exercise)
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Let’s describe our avatar!