otak

See also: õtak

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay otak, from utak, from Proto-Malayic *utək, *utak, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *hutək, *qutək, *qutak. Doublet of botak and kotak. Compare Tagalog utak.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈotak/ [ˈo.t̪ak̚]
• Rhymes: -otak
• Syllabification: o‧tak

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

otak (plural otak-otak)

1. brain
   2. (anatomy) The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action
   3. (figurative) mind

      Synonyms: benak, pikiran

   4. (figurative) intellect, intelligence
2. (figurative) mastermind

   Synonyms: biang keladi, gembong, tokoh

Conjugation

Conjugation of otak (ber-, intransitive)

root	otak
	active	passive		basic imperative	emphatic jussive
		reflective1	ordinary
	ordinary
nominative	berotak	–	–	–	–
accusative / dative / locative	mengotaki	–	diotaki	otaki	otakilah
perfective causative / applicative2	–	–	–	–	–
	causative
nominative	–	–	–	–	–
accusative / dative / locative	–	–	–	–	–
perfective causative / applicative2	–	–	–	–	–

¹ There is another form of reflective passive verb with affixation of ke- -an which is not included in the table. This form is only attested in active voice without causative affixation of per-.
² The -kan row is either causative or applicative. With transitive roots it mostly has applicative meaning.
Some of these forms do not normally exist or are rarely used in standard Indonesian. Some forms may also change meaning.

Derived terms

• berotak
• mengotaki

• otak ayam
• otak belakang
• otak besar
• otak buntu
• otak depan
• otak encer
• otak kadal
• otak kanan
• otak kecil
• otak kejahatan
• otak kiri
• otak miring
• otak pelaku
• otak telum
• otak tumpul
• otak udang

Further reading

• “otak” 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.

Kankanaey

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔotak/ [ˈʔoː.tʌk̠̚]
• Rhymes: -otak
• Syllabification: o‧tak

Noun

ótak (anatomy)

1. (Buguias) Alternative spelling of otek

Malay

Alternative forms

• hotak (often vulgar)
• otk, ox (Internet, text messaging)
• utak (obsolete)

Etymology

From utak, from Proto-Malayic *hutək, *utək, *utak, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *hutək, *qutək, *qutak. Doublet of botak and kotak. Compare Tagalog utak.

Pronunciation

• (Baku, Johor-Riau) IPA^(key): /ˈotak/ [ˈo.t̪aʔ]
• Rhymes: -otak
• Hyphenation: o‧tak

Noun

otak (Jawi spelling اوتق, plural otak-otak)

1. (anatomy) brain (organ)

Synonyms

• benak / بنق

Descendants

• > Indonesian: otak (inherited)
• → English: otak-otak (via the plural otak-otak)
• → Javanese: utak (via the obsolete utak)

See also

• otak-otak

References

• Pijnappel, Jan (1875) “اوتق otak”, in Maleisch-Hollandsch woordenboek, John Enschede en Zonen, Frederik Muller, page 29
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “اوتق otak”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 53
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “otak”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 188

Further reading

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

Tocharian B

Etymology

From ot (“then”) + the intensifying suffix -k(ä).

Adverb

otak

1. then (both meaning "at that time" and "therefore")