Word.ws English Dictionary

merdeka

Syllables: Mer·de·kaUK/mɜːˈdɛkə/US/mɜɹˈdɛkə/

merdeka is the alternative letter-case form of Merdeka.

Noun capitalized: Merdeka

Merdeka (uncountable)

  1. (Indonesia, Malaysia) Chiefly of a nation or people: freedom; independence.
    • The Indonesian struggle is being watched with intense interest and sympathy by all the subject peoples of Asia who are struggling for national independence. Their battle-cry ‘Merdeka’ which means freedom resounds throughout the length and breadth of Asia.1946 April, P. Madhavan Nair, “Indonesia: The Land of Promise”, in Kedar Nath Chatterji, editor, The Modern Review, volume LXXIX, number 4 (number 472 overall), Calcutta, West Bengal: Nibaran Chandra...
    • August 31st, 1957, the day on which the Federation of Malaya will achieve independence within the British Commonwealth, will be a time for rejoicing that Malaya has safely achieved Merdeka by peaceful means; […]1957 August–September, D[onald] C[harles] MacGillivray, High Commissioner, Federation of Malaya, “Merdeka Messages”, in Ho Seng Ong, editor, Methodist Message: Official Publication of the Methodist...

Proper noun capitalized: Merdeka

Merdeka

  1. (Malaysia, abbreviation, informal) Short for Merdeka Day (“the independence day of Malaysia, on August 31”).
    • to celebrate Merdeka Merdeka parade
    • UNIVERSITY UNION TO CELEBRATE MERDEKA [title] […] The students' union of the University of Malaya, Singapore division, is organising functions to celebrate the second anniversary of the Federation's achievement of independence.1959 September 2, “University union to celebrate Merdeka”, in The Straits Budget: The Weekly Issue of The Straits Times, number 680, Singapore: Straits Times Press, →OCLC, page 13, column 4

Forms of merdeka

alternative formmerdeka

Origin of merdeka

Borrowed from Indonesian merdeka and from its etymon Malay merdeka, an elision of merdeheka ~ merdahika, borrowed from Sanskrit महर्द्धिक (maharddhika, “very prosperous”), from महा (mahā) (a combining form of म॒हत् (mahát, “abundant; great, large”)) + ऋद्धि (ṛddhi, “prosperity, wealth”) + -क (-ka, suffix forming adjectives): * म॒हत् (mahát) is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). * ऋद्धि (ṛddhi) is possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eldʰ- (“to accomplish”) or *h₂erdʰ- (“abundance”). cognates * Buginese ᨆᨑᨉᨙᨀ (“free”, adjective) * Dutch mardijker (“former slave who converted to Christianity”) * Javanese ꦩꦂꦢꦶꦏ (mardika) * Tagalog maharlika (“aristocracy, nobility; freeman; (obsolete) act of freeing from slavery; etc.”)

Words formed from merdeka

Words that rhyme with merdeka

Questions about merdeka

What does merdeka mean?
Merdeka means chiefly of a nation or people: freedom; independence.
What is merdeka the alternative letter-case form of?
Merdeka is the alternative letter-case form of Merdeka.
What part of speech is merdeka?
Merdeka can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce merdeka?
Merdeka is pronounced /mɜːˈdɛkə/ (UK).

Words near merdeka in the dictionary

  1. Mercys
  2. merd
  3. merdaughter
  4. merdaughters
  5. merde
  6. merdeka
  7. Merdeka Day
  8. MerDer
  9. merdiban
  10. merdivorous
  11. Merdoch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: merdeka (page history and authors); Merdeka (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.

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