atau

See also: atáu and ʻatau

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• atawa (pre-1947)
• ataoe (pre-1947)

Etymology

From earlier ataoe, from Malay atau (“or”), from Old Malay अथवा (athavā), from Pali atha vā (“or”), from Sanskrit अथो (atho) < अथवा (athavā, “or, rather”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈatau̯/ [ˈa.t̪au̯]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atau̯
• Syllabification: a‧tau

Conjunction

atau

1. or

Further reading

• “atau” 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.

Malay

Alternative forms

• atawa (uncommon)

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit अथवा (athavā, “or, rather”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [a.tau̯]
• Rhymes: -tau̯, -au̯
• Hyphenation: a‧tau

Conjunction

atau (Jawi spelling اتاو)

1. or
   • 1812, William Marsden, A Dictionary of the Malayan language in two parts, Malayan and English and English and Malayan‎^[1], →OCLC, page 2:

     Pada sūltan atau pada mantrī-nia

     To the sultan or to his ministers

Further reading

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