desa

See also: Desa, desà, desā, and de sa

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Indonesian desa, from Malay desa.

Noun

desa (plural desas)

1. (Indonesia) A rural village terminology.

Asturian

Etymology

From de +‎ esa. Compare desta and daquella.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdesa/ [ˈd̪e.sa]
• Rhymes: -esa
• Syllabification: de‧sa

Adverb

desa

1. that one time
2. back then

Usage notes

• Desa refers to events closer to the speaker's time than daquella, which refers to an older timeframe.

Contraction

desa f (masculine desi, neuter deso, masculine plural desos, feminine plural deses)

1. (obsolete, uncommon) contraction of de +‎ aquella, literally “of that one” (modern spelling: d'esa)

Further reading

• “desa”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN

Balinese

Noun

desa

1. alternative spelling of désa

Blagar

Noun

desa

1. village

References

• Antoinette Schapper, The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1 (2014), p. 165

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈde̞.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈdə.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈdɛ.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈde.za]

Verb

desa

1. inflection of desar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay desa, from Sanskrit देश (deśa).

• Partially displaced native kampung in some context.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛsa/ [ˈdɛ.sa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsa
• Syllabification: de‧sa

Noun

dèsa (plural desa-desa)

1. village
   1. (government) rural fourth-level division in Indonesia

      Hyponym: kalurahan

2. rural area
3. country

Usage notes

• Desa was sixth-level administrative division in Java, Dutch East Indies, which was replaced by Japanese 區, 区 (ku) during Japanese occupation
• Desa is used for denoting rural fourth-level administrative division in Indonesia, which is a continuation from previous Dutch and Japanese administration division
• due to special status of Yogyakarta, rural fourth-level division is called kalurahan, an unadapted borrowing, which is known as desa (literally “village”) in other part of Indonesia, while the urbanized one kept the adapted spelling of kelurahan

Derived terms

• kedesa-desaan
• kedesaan
• pedesaan
• perdesaan
• sedesa

• desa abdi
• desa kaputihan
• desa merah
• desa mijen
• desa pakuncen
• desa perdikan
• desa peristiwa
• desa praja
• desa siaga
• desa swadaya
• desa swakarya
• desa swasembada
• desa wisata
• desa wisma

Further reading

• “desa”, 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

Latvian

Desas

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *deš-, from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to cut, to sever, to split into fibers”). A minority opinion derives desa from a different stem *deḱ- (“to remove, to take out”). Cognates include Lithuanian dešrà, dialectal dešerà, Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, “hair”), Old Norse tagl (“horsehair”), Old High German zagal (“tail, rod”), Old English tægl (“tail”), English tail, Sanskrit देशा (deśā, “fringe of cloth; lamp wick”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdæsːa]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

dȩsa f (4th declension)

1. sausage (meat product made of ground meat and seasonings stuffed into an animal's intestine or some similar cylindrical material)

   cūkgaļas desa ― pork sausage

   aknu desa ― liver sausage

   žāvētās desas ― dried sausages

   desās pārstrādā gaļu un iekšējos orgānus ― one processes meat and internal organs into sausages

   brālis skubināja, lai pamērcējot desu sinepēs ― the brother urged for the sausage to be seasoned in mustard

Declension

Declension of desa (4th)

	singular	plural
nominative	desa	desas
genitive	desas	desu
dative	desai	desām
accusative	desu	desas
instrumental	desu	desām
locative	desā	desās
vocative	desa	desas

Derived terms

• (dated) desinieks, desiniece
• (colloquial) desot
• (colloquial) muļķadesa, muļķa desa

Malay

Etymology

From Sanskrit देश (deśa).

Noun

desa (Jawi spelling ديسا, plural desa-desa)

1. country
2. town, village

Synonyms

• kampung

Descendants

• Indonesian: desa
• → Min Nan: 禮些 / 礼些 (lése)

Further reading

• "desa" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017
  (also see "desa" at PRPM first version)

Muna

Etymology

Derived from Sanskrit देश (deśa).

Noun

desa

1. village

References

• “desa” in Webonary.org

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• 𑀤𑁂𑀲 (Brahmi script)
• देस (Devanagari script)
• দেস (Bengali script)
• දෙස (Sinhalese script)
• ဒေသ or ၻေသ (Burmese script)
• เทส or เทสะ (Thai script)
• ᨴᩮᩈ (Tai Tham script)
• ເທສ or ເທສະ (Lao script)
• ទេស (Khmer script)
• 𑄘𑄬𑄥 (Chakma script)

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit देश (deśa).

Noun

desa m

1. point
2. place, region
3. country

Declension

Declension table of "desa" (masculine)

Case / Number	Singular	Plural
Nominative (first)	deso	desā
Accusative (second)	desaṃ	dese
Instrumental (third)	desena	desehi or desebhi
Dative (fourth)	desassa or desāya or desatthaṃ	desānaṃ
Ablative (fifth)	desasmā or desamhā or desā	desehi or desebhi
Genitive (sixth)	desassa	desānaṃ
Locative (seventh)	desasmiṃ or desamhi or dese	desesu
Vocative (calling)	desa	desā

Descendants

• → Burmese: ဒေသ (desa.)
• → Thai: เทศ (têet)
• → Khmer: ទេស (teeh)

References

Childers, Robert Caesar, Dictionary of the Päli language, London: Trübner & Company, 1875, page 114.

Spanish

Etymology

• preposition de + pronoun esa

Contraction

desa

1. (obsolete) of that, from that (followed by a feminine noun in singular)

Related terms

• desa
• desas
• dese
• deses
• deso
• desos

Further reading

• “dese”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025