gulai

English

Chicken gulai

Etymology

Borrowed from Malay gulai.

Noun

gulai (countable and uncountable, plural gulais)

1. A kind of spicy stew of Southeast Asia.

Brunei Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡulaj/
• Hyphenation: gu‧lai

Noun

gulai

1. vegetable

   Synonym: sayur

2. side dish in a rice-based meal

   Synonym: lauk

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay gulai. Probably from Tamil குழை (kuḻai, “to become soft, well cooked”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡulai̯/ [ˈɡu.lai̯]
• Rhymes: -ulai̯
• Syllabification: gu‧lai

Noun

gulai (plural gulai-gulai)

1. (cooking) gulai: a type of food containing rich, spicy and succulent curry-like sauce

Derived terms

• menggulai

• gulai bagar
• gulai balak
• gulai keling
• gulai kulak kukut
• gulai taboh

Further reading

• “gulai”, 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

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *gulay (“vegetable”); reconstructed by Robert Blust (compare Tagalog gúlay (“vegetable”), Lampung Api gulay (“to make soup”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡulaj/ [ˈɡu.lai̯]
• Rhymes: -ulai̯, -lai̯, -ai̯
• Hyphenation: gu‧lai

Noun

gulai (Jawi spelling ݢولاي, plural gulai-gulai or gulai²)

1. (cooking) gulai: a type of food containing spicy and succulent curry-like sauce.
2. (Brunei) vegetable

   Synonym: sayur

Derived terms

Affixed terms and other derivations

Regular affixed derivations:

• penggulai [agentive / qualitative / instrumental / abstract / measure] (peN-)
• penggulaian [agentive / qualitative / instrumental / abstract / measure + resultative / locative / collective / variety / verbal noun / fruit] (peN- + -an)
• menggulai [agent focus] (meN-)
• menggulai-gulai [reduplication + agent focus] (redup + meN-)
• menggulaikan [agent focus + causative benefactive] (meN- + -kan)
• digulai [patient focus] (di-)
• digulaikan [patient focus + causative benefactive] (di- + -kan)
• bergulai [stative / habitual] (beR-)
• mempergulaikan [causative agent focus + causative benefactive] (mempeR- + -kan)
• dipergulaikan [causative passive focus + causative benefactive] (dipeR- + -kan)

Descendants

• Indonesian: gulai

Further reading

• "gulai" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017