bahaghari

• bahag-hari
• balaghari — Rizal, eastern Marinduque

Commonly believed to be from bahag (“loincloth”) +‎ hari (“king”). For this etymology, scholars have alternative suggestions where the latter component may be from Malay hari (“day”), according to Wolff (1976), or from Sanskrit हरि (hari, “the sun”), according to Potet (2016). Compare Kapampangan pinanari. See also Malay benang raja.

However, Zorc (1979) posits an alternative etymology from Southern Luzon axis *balaghadi (“rainbow”) with elision of /l/. Compare Casiguran Dumagat Agta balaghari and Remontado Agta balaghadi.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /bahaɡˈhaɾiʔ/ [bɐ.hɐɡˈhaː.ɾɪʔ], (colloquial) /bahaɡˈhaɾeʔ/ [bɐ.hɐɡˈhaː.ɾɛʔ]
• Rhymes: -aɾiʔ
• Syllabification: ba‧hag‧ha‧ri

bahagharì (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜑᜄ᜔ᜑᜇᜒ)

1. rainbow (multicoloured arch in the sky)

   Synonyms: balangaw, balantok, arkuiris, (rare) bahagsubay

• “bahaghari”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “bahaghari”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• San Buena Ventura, Fr. Pedro de (1613), Vocabulario de lengua tagala. El romance castellano puesto primero. Primera, y segunda parte.‎^[1] (overall work in Early Modern Spanish and Classical Tagalog), as directed by Gov. Gen. Juan de Silva, Pila, Laguna: La noble Villa de Pila, por Tomás Pinpin y Domingo Loag., page 71: “Arco) Bahaghari (pp) del çielo o faja del Rey”
• Wolff, John U. (1976), “Malay borrowings in Tagalog”, in C.D. Cowan & O.W. Wolters, editors, Southeast Asian History and Historiography: Essays Presented to D. G. E. Hall‎^[2], Ithaca: Cornell University Press, page 356
• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2016), Tagalog Borrowings and Cognates, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 283
• Zorc, David Paul (1979–1983), Core Etymological Dictionary of Filipino: Part 1, page 33