rempah

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Malay rempah.

Noun

rempah (countable and uncountable, plural rempahs)

1. (Singapore, Malaysia) A paste of ground herbs and spices.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /rəmˈpah/ [rəmˈpah]
• Rhymes: -ah
• Syllabification: rem‧pah

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

rêmpah (active merempah, passive dirempah)

1. (chiefly dialectal) to run and trample (plants and so on)
2. (archaic) to explore; to wander
3. (archaic) to weed (remove)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Malay rempah, from Old Javanese rĕmpah (“a kind of dish”).

Noun

rêmpah (plural rempah-rempah)

1. spice

Verb

rêmpah (active merempah, passive dirempah)

1. to spice

Derived terms

• berempah (“spiced”)
• rempah-rempah (“spices; to add various spices to”)
• rempah-rempahi (“to add various spices to”)

• rempah ratus (“various spices”)

Further reading

• “rempah” 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

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rəm.pah/
• Rhymes: -ah

Noun

rempah (Jawi spelling رمڤه, plural rempah-rempah or rempah-ratus, informal 1st possessive rempahku, 2nd possessive rempahmu, 3rd possessive rempahnya)

1. spice

Derived terms

Affixed terms and other derivations

Regular affixed derivations:

• perempah [agentive / qualitative / instrumental / abstract / measure] (peN-)
• rempahi [causative (locative) benefactive] (-i)
• merempah [agent focus] (meN-)
• merempahi [agent focus + causative (locative) benefactive] (meN- + -i)
• merempah-rempahi [reduplication + agent focus + causative (locative) benefactive] (redup + meN- + -i)
• dirempah [patient focus] (di-)
• dirempahi [patient focus + causative (locative) benefactive] (di- + -i)
• berempah [stative / habitual] (beR-)

Descendants

• Indonesian: rempah
• → Tausug: lampa

Further reading

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