celah

Indonesian

Etymology

Inherited from Malay celah, perhaps from Proto-Austronesian *Cəlaq (“crack, split, fissure”) with an irregular sound change from *C to c (instead of the expected *t).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃəˈlah/ [t͡ʃəˈlah]
• Rhymes: -ah
• Syllabification: ce‧lah

Noun

celah

1. gap (an opening in anything made by breaking or parting)
2. fissure (a long, narrow crack or opening)

Derived terms

• bercelah
• bercelah-celah
• secelah

 

References

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*Celaq”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI