belanja

English

Alternative forms

• blanja

Etymology

From Malay belanja.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /bəˈlɑnd͡ʒɑ/, /-d͡ʒə/, [bəˈland͡ʒa]

Verb

belanja

1. (Singlish, Manglish) To give someone a treat.
   • 1981, Robert Yeo, Prize-winning Plays: Volumes 1-4, Federal Publications, page 37:

     Actually, what I don’t understand about girls is why they expect us to belanja them all the time. Why can’t they belanja us?

   • 2020 April 19, Chelsea Kiew, Hannah Bock, “Virus Vigilantes: Doing good in trying times”, in The Straits Times‎^[1], Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, archived from the original on 4 March 2024:

     Belanja Eat, launched April 10, is a pay-it-forward initiative that lets you belanja (or treat) someone to a hawker meal.

   • 2023, Aishah Zainal, Hades, Gerakbudaya Enterprise, →ISBN:

     If only Kei could belanja them some good cold stuff in this heat.

Indonesian

Etymology

Inherited from Malay belanja. Ultimately derived from Pali valañja (“that which is spent or secreted”).

• Semantic loan from Javanese ꦧ꧀ꦭꦚ꧀ꦗ (blanja) for "to spend, to pay out" sense.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /bəˈland͡ʒa/ [bəˈlaɲ.d͡ʒa]
• Rhymes: -and͡ʒa
• Syllabification: be‧lan‧ja

Noun

bêlanja

1. expense (a spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds)

   Synonym: ongkos

2. expenditure

   Synonyms: pengeluaran, pembelanjaan

   1. the act of expending money or paying out
   2. the amount of expended money
3. (rare) salary; wages (one's total income for a time period)

   Synonyms: gaji, upah

Verb

bêlanja

1. colloquial/imperative of berbelanja

Derived terms

• belanjaan
• belanjai
• belanjakan
• berbelanja
• pembelanja
• pembelanjaan
• perbelanjaan

Further reading

• “belanja”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Malay

Etymology

Ultimately derived from Pali valañja (“that which is spent or secreted”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (schwa-variety) IPA^(key): /bəˈland͡ʒə/ [bəˈlaɲ.d͡ʒə]
  • Rhymes: -and͡ʒə, -d͡ʒə, -ə

• (Baku) IPA^(key): /bəˈland͡ʒa/ [bəˈlaɲ.d͡ʒa]
  • Rhymes: -and͡ʒa, -d͡ʒa, -a
• Hyphenation: be‧lan‧ja

Noun

belanja (Jawi spelling بلنجا, plural belanja-belanja or belanja²)

1. expense; expenditure
2. (euphemistic) gift
3. (rare, euphemistic) salary; wages

Verb

belanja (Jawi spelling بلنجا)

1. to treat someone

   Synonym: payung (Malaysia, slang)

Derived terms

• belanjakan
• belanjawan
• berbelanja
• dibelanja
• membelanja
• membelanjai
• membelanjakan
• pembelanja
• perbelanjaan
• terbelanja

Descendants

• > Indonesian: belanja (inherited)
• → English: belanja
• → Tausug: balanja'

Further reading

• “belanja”, in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu [Malay Literary Reference Centre] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017