30+ Useful Household Items In Malay

Malay is officially spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Unofficially, it is spoken among some in Thailand and East Timor. It is said that the Malay language is somewhat easy to learn. Although some may think it can become complicated, it depends on your efforts. If you are completely interested in learning Malay, you can surround yourself with words and phrases and soon notice that you can understand Malay pretty well! This article will highlight a list of 30+ handy household items in Malay for everyday use.

Malay And The Culture Of Malays

Most Malays are from Malaysia, a multi-cultural and very diverse country. Native Malays are surrounded by Chinese and Indians, and everyone maintains their religions and cultures. This is seen in their daily way of life.

Their traditions differ; they build their communities, work with their own people, marry within their community, and maintain their culture and tradition.

All Malaysians are particular about their “face” or respect in the community, at work, at home, and among family. This is one of the main reasons why Malaysians are united even in diversity. They maintain respect for themselves and one another’s cultures or traditions and make sure to participate and give recognition to all cultures.

For example, unique festivals of Malays, Chinese, and Indians are considered public holidays. This creates and maintains harmonious relationships.

Homes In Malaysia

By understanding the cultures of Malays, it is clear to assume that their homes would be different. Their traditions, cuisines, religious beliefs, and clothing are other. A traditional Malay house is the Rumah Panggung

This house is built on slits raised higher from the ground to avoid flooding and wild animals and to increase ventilation in the home. This kind of home requires a lot of maintenance. The original material needs to be well preserved, which can be challenging in tropical regions.

Indonesia continues to have traditional homes among Malays in rural areas. But in Malaysia, modern houses are now mostly seen. Singapore is also experiencing urbanization and industrialization. Efforts are being made to preserve the indigenous architectural designs of the Malay people.

Presently, in Kuala Lumpur, the architectural designs of homes can be seen to have colonial influence, Islamic influence, and Asian tradition influence. KL also holds the record of the second-tallest building in the world, among many other monumental structures. 

Penang South Islands will recently undergo a significant architectural transformation to create biodiversity by 2030. These, among many, are why housing and homes have become very difficult to afford in Malaysia.

Household Items In Malay

household items in malay - A photo of a wooden house
Traditional Malay Homes

What Are The Typical Household Items In A Malaysian Home?

This list will provide the items’ English words and their Malay translations. Now, it is essential to note that every home is not the same, and the articles, furniture, and appliances will vary, perhaps according to income. The everyday items likely to be found in any home will be covered.

  • toys – mainan
  • broom – penyapu
  • basket – bakul
  • fan – kipas
  • bottle – botol
  • book – buku
  • container – bekas
  • heater – pemanas
  • umbrella – payung
  • knife – pisau
  • toothbrush – berus gigi
  • tooth paste – tampal gigi
  • towel – tuala
  • tapestry – permaidani

Appliances include:

  • telephone – Telefon
  • refrigerator – peti ais
  • kettle – creek
  • camera – kamera
  • air conditioner – penghawa dingin

Items found in the living room include:

  • furniture – perabot
  • curtains – langsir
  • carpet – permaidani
  • clock – jam
  • plant – tumbuhan
  • chair – kerusi
  • table – meja
  • bookcase – almari buku

Bedroom items include:

  • bed – katil
  • pillow – bantal
  • blanket – selimut

Differences In Household Items

It can be expected as different homes have different cultures and religions, their homes will have additional items. For eating, for example, it is common to find spoons, forks, and chopsticks as utensils in a Chinese Malay home. For some, using fingers to eat is common; therefore, utensils are not often on the table.

Malay Indians avoid beef due to religious beliefs; Malay Muslims avoid pork. Often knives are not among utensils on the dining table as other meat is always cut into small pieces for meals.

Alcohol is uncommon in Malay households, and smoking is also considered very impolite among people. Therefore, items related to drinking alcohol or smoking cannot be seen in a typical Malay home.

What Are The Similarities Between English And Malay?

Several household items in Malay may sound similar to English. This is because Malay has taken English words as they are familiar. Consequently, they have become quite common in the language.

In addition, it is also straightforward to read Malay. To apply the items you have learned today in a sentence, follow the same sentence structure as English: Subject – Verb – Object (SVO). Now you are ready to go and start talking about house objects with your Malay friends!

Learning Malay With Ling

Learn Malay with Ling

As mentioned earlier, Malay is the kind of language which is entirely possible to pick up just by being around it often and listening to others speak it. It is also a significant advantage that the script is now Latin, similar to English, and written from left to right.

A highly recommended website to learn Malay is the Ling Language Learning App. With just one click, a large amount of information can be found, including names of things, how to make a sentence, examples, the translation of words and phrases, and many more languages to learn!

Try the Ling App today and check out the many ways to learn Malay. You will be amazed to find that it is a simple and user-friendly app that can help to learn languages in no time!

Download the app from Apple Store or Google Play and start your journey today!

Share this post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

What makes learning with Ling special

Interactive exercises

Improve your pronunciation by starting a conversation with our app’s interactive chatbot

Engaging activities

Practice your skills with mini-games and track your progress with fun quizzes

Mix of languages

Choose from over 60 languages, both big and small, and listen to audio from native speakers

Proven results

Backed by linguistic research, our learning methods can help you achieve fluency in record time