sekolah menengah pertama

Indonesian

Etymology

Compound of sekolah menengah (“high school (US), secondary school (UK)”) +‎ pertama (“first”), calque from Japanese 初等 (shotō, “beginner, primary”) +‎ 中學校 (chūgakkō, “secondary (middle) school”). The post-war Japanese term is 中学校 (chūgakkō). Attested in Kanpō/Berita Pemerintah 2602 (1942).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /səˌkolah ˌmənəŋah pərˈtama/ [səˌko.lah ˌmə.nə.ŋah pərˈt̪a.ma]
• Rhymes: -ama
• Syllabification: se‧ko‧lah me‧ne‧ngah per‧ta‧ma

Noun

sekolah menengah pertama (first-person possessive sekolah menengah pertamaku, second-person possessive sekolah menengah pertamamu, third-person possessive sekolah menengah pertamanya)

1. (education) junior high school (US), lower secondary school (UK), abbreviated SMP.

Usage notes

The term has been attested since 1942, replaced Dutch meer uitgebreid lager onderwijs. The term sekolah lanjutan tingkat pertama was used from 1994/1995 to 2003/2004.

Synonyms

• sekolah lanjutan tingkat pertama (dated)

Further reading

• “sekolah menengah pertama” 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.