balanghai
English
[edit]Etymology
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Noun
[edit]balanghai (plural balanghais)
- (nautical) A large boat, about 18 meters in length, used by Malay settlers of the Philippines in prehispanic times. Such a vessel would carry a small clan or a large family.
- 1996, E. P. Patanñe, The Philippines in the 6th to 16th Centuries, page 172:
- Shortly, thereafter, the Spaniards saw two balanghais, large outriggers, making for the island. One of the balanghais had an awning covering a platform on which sat an important-looking figure.