ponteng

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Malay ponteng.

Verb

ponteng (third-person singular simple present pontengs, present participle pontenging, simple past and past participle pontenged)

1. (Singlish, Manglish) To skip (school or work); play truant.
   • 1978, Adibah Amin, As I was Passing, volume 2, page 197:

     […] she rushed up to me at the end shouting: "Hei you came! Did you ponteng work?"
     I do not advocated "pontenging" of course but I do strongly recommend one primary school sports meet at least for each parent and soon.

   • Quoted in 2009, Rosaly Puthucheary, Different Voices: The Singaporean/Malaysian Novel (page 124)

     But that was the best place to spend the day if you pontenged school. It was so cool and quiet.

Malay

Etymology

Probably from Chinese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pon.teŋ]
• Rhymes: -teŋ, -eŋ
• Hyphenation: pon‧teng

Verb

ponteng (Jawi spelling ڤونتيڠ, active memonteng, 3rd person passive diponteng)

1. (transitive) To cheat; to swindle.

   Synonyms: tipu, kecoh

2. (informal, transitive) To ditch or skip work, school and so on; to skive.

   Adam tak pernah ponteng kelasnya.

   Adam has never skipped his classes.

Compounds

• kaki ponteng (“avid skiver”)

Further reading

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