Word.ws English Dictionary

Bugis

UK/ˈbuːɡɪs/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Singapore/ˈbʊɡɪs/

Bugis is the plural of Bugi.

Proper noun

Bugis

  1. The Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by these people.
  2. A district in central Singapore, around a street of the same name.

Meaning of Bugi

Noun

Bugi (plural Bugis)

  1. A member of an Austronesian ethnic group of South Sulawesi.
    • Buginese epic poem. Relating the elopement of a Bugi of the Island of Sambawa with the King's daughter, with their tragic death.1898, James Ludovic Lindsay Earl of Crawford, Bibliotheca Lindesiana, page 39

Noun

Bugis (plural Bugis)

  1. A member of a people of southern Sulawesi.
    Synonyms:
    Bugi

Adjective

Bugis (comparative more Bugis, superlative most Bugis)

  1. Pertaining to the Bugis or their language.
    • The tattered and browned cowhide Bugis map […] has place names in Bugis script and records sea depths.2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 13
    Synonyms:
    Buginese

Synonyms of Bugis

Forms of Bugis

Noun
pluralBugis
alternative form (obsolete)Bugi
alternative form (obsolete)Buggess
alternative form (obsolete)Buggass
alternative form (obsolete)Bugess
alternative form (obsolete)Bugass
Adjective
comparativemore Bugis
superlativemost Bugis

Origin of Bugis

From Malay Bugis, from Makasar ᨅᨘᨁᨗᨔᨗ (Bugisi'), probably from Proto-South Sulawesi **Bugis or Buginese ᨓᨘᨁᨗ (Wugi'), ᨕᨘᨁᨗ (Ugi'), ᨕᨚᨁᨗ (Ogi') (a self-designation). Cognate with Mandar Bugis, Toraja-Sa'dan Bugi'.

Questions about Bugis

What does Bugis mean?
Bugis means a member of a people of southern Sulawesi.
What is Bugis the plural of?
Bugis is the plural of Bugi.
What part of speech is Bugis?
Bugis can be a noun, a proper noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Bugis?
Bugis is pronounced /ˈbuːɡɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of Bugis?
The plural of Bugis is Bugis.

Words near Bugis in the dictionary

  1. bugia
  2. bugias
  3. bugicide
  4. bugicides
  5. Buginese
  6. Bugis
  7. bugkind
  8. bugle
  9. bugle player
  10. bugle players
  11. bugle scale

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Bugis (page history and authors); Bugi (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Bugis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bugis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.