anak buah

Inherited from Malay anak buah. Equivalent to anak (“child”) +‎ buah (“fruit”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˌanak ˈbuah/ [ˌa.nak̚ ˈbu.ah]
• Rhymes: -ah
• Syllabification: a‧nak bu‧ah

anak buah (plural anak-anak buah)

1. subordinate, worker

• “anak buah”, 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

Compound of anak (“child”) +‎ buah (“fruit”), literally “fruit's child”.

• (Baku, schwa-variety) IPA^(key): /ˌanak ˈbwah/ [ˌa.naʔ ˈbwah]
• Rhymes: -ah
• Hyphenation: a‧nak buah

anak buah (Jawi spelling انق بواه, plural anak-anak buah or anak² buah)

1. nephew; niece

   Synonyms: anak saudara c, anak saudari f

2. (anak ~) nibling
3. subordinate, worker

• > Indonesian: anak buah (inherited)
• North Moluccan Malay: ana bua

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