makan

Unadapted borrowing from Malay makan. Doublet of kai.

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑkɑn/, [ˈmakan]

makan (invariable)

1. (Singlish, Manglish) To eat.
   • 2023, Alfian Sa'at, “Dreamplay”, in Collected Plays Two, Singapore: Ethos Books, →ISBN:

     Mdm Zaiton: You makan already? Eat what?

makan (uncountable)

1. (Singlish, Manglish) Food.
   • 2021 June 8, Sean Lim, quoting Razali, “These Stalls Used To Fuel Workers At Industrial Parks. Now, They Are Barely Surviving”, in ricemedia.co‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 June 2025:

     “HDB there already got makan, they want to come here for what? So leceh,” Mr Razali says. He opens his stall only on weekdays, from 6.30 AM to about 3 PM in the afternoon.

   • 2024 April 14, Daniel Peters, “In Memoriam: Our Makan Places Lost to Time”, in ricemedia.co‎^[2], archived from the original on 17 May 2025:

     It’s not uncommon for Singapore’s F&B landscape to shift in an almost rapid and unsteady fashion. Some businesses morph and transform, closing and reopening spaces to keep up with changes.

From Proto-Malayic *makan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaən, from Proto-Austronesian *kaən.

makan

1. to eat (consume)

makan

1. to eat

• “makan”, in Dusun dictionary, 2025–2026

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈmakan/ [ˈma.kan]
• Rhymes: -akan
• Syllabification: ma‧kan

Inherited from Malay makan, from Proto-Malayic *makan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaən, from Proto-Austronesian *kaən. Doublet of pakan and pangan.

makan (active memakan, reflexive passive termakan, ordinary passive dimakan, imperative makan, emphatic-jussive makanlah)

1. (ambitransitive) to eat (to consume, ingest)

   Synonyms: berboga, caplok, cengam, ciak, dahar, ganyang, gerogot, kemce, keme, kemek, kerkah, mam, mamah, mamam, melahap, memajuh, mencaruk, meratah, mimik, nyam, santap, sengam, sungkah, telan

   Pagi ini saya makan ikan.

   This morning I ate fish.

2. (of money, time, etc.) to eat, consume, use up

   Synonym: menghabiskan

   Pembangunan sekolah ini memakan biaya tinggi.

   The construction of this school consumes a lot of money.

3. (of chess) to attack, to kill

   Synonyms: ambil, catuk, ganyang, gasak, serang

4. (usually of a machine part, pen, etc.) to work (to function correctly)

   Synonyms: berjalan, berfungsi, bisa

   Remnya sempat gak makan di tengah jalan.

   The brake wasn't working in the middle of the road.

5. to corrupt, embezzle

   Synonyms: korupsi, rasuah, seleweng

   Dia memakan sebagian besar uang milik koperasi itu.

   He embezzled most of the cooperative's money.

6. (uncommon) to damage, hurt

   Synonyms: merusak, melukai, menelap

7. (uncommon, of a tool, etc.) to reach

   Synonyms: capai, gapai

8. (uncommon) to consume, to take

   Synonyms: konsumsi, mimik, minum, santap, telan

9. (uncommon, idiomatic) to sleep with (to have sex with)

makan (uncountable)

1. eating (the act of ingesting food)
2. (used only in a phrase) apocopic form of makanan (“sustenance (something that provides support or nourishment)”, literally “food, meal”).

Borrowed from Arabic مَكَان (makān, literally “place, location, position; status, dignity”).

makan (uncountable)

1. (Islam, Sufism) a place of refuge for the heart and physical health, the disappearance of doubts caused by busy physical work

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*kaen”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

• minum (“to drink”)

• makan on the Indonesian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^id
• “makan”, 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

• mkn (Internet, text messaging)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmakan/ [ˈma.kan]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -akan, -kan, -an
• Hyphenation: ma‧kan

Inherited from Proto-Malayic *makan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaən, from Proto-Austronesian *kaən.

First attested in the Talang Tuo inscription, 684 AD, as Old Malay [script needed] (mākan) in the form nimākan (current spelling dimakan).

makan (Jawi spelling ماکن, active memakan, third-person passive dimakan)

1. (ambitransitive, literally) to eat

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:makan

2. (transitive) to consume, spend, use up (of money, time)
3. (transitive) to damage, destroy

   Besi itu dimakan karat ― The iron is damaged by rust.

4. (transitive, sports) to kill, to take out (of chess pieces)
5. (transitive) to injure or penetrate

   Synonyms: lut, masuk, mempan, telap, telut, tembus, dimakan senjata

6. (impersonal) to work as expected (usually of a machine part)
7. to fit in (of holes)
8. to follow (an advice)

   Synonyms: menerima, mengikut, menurut, mendengar, mematuhi, mentaati

9. (figurative) to receive bribes or illegally obtained money
10. (uncommon, idiomatic) to sleep with

• > Indonesian: makan (inherited)
• > North Moluccan Malay: makang (inherited)

Clipping of makanan (literally “food, meal”).

makan (Jawi spelling ماکن, uncountable)

1. livelihood, subsistence, sustenance

   Synonym: rezeki

• “makan”, in Kamus Dewan [The Institute Dictionary] (in Malay), Fourth edition, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2005, →ISBN

• makan on the Malay Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ms
• "makan" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017

makan

1. definite singular of maka

• macan — obsolete, Spanish-based spelling

From either Spanish macan (“bruised”), an inflection of macar (“to bruise”), or Spanish Macán, an obsolete form of Macao according to Manuel (1948), it is supposedly from Macao, due to Noceda & Sanlucar (1860) defining it as "Arroz de tubigan, bueno y oloroso, uno es blanco y otro colorado. Vino la semilla de Macan." and an early account of Fr. Domingo de Salazar (1583) saying that they have located it at "la ysla de Macan, donde viven los Portugueses que estan junto a la ciudad de Cantón, en la China,...".

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /maˈkan/ [mɐˈxan̪]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: ma‧kan

makán (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜃᜈ᜔)

1. (botany) a type of aromatic rice (Oryza sativa, sometimes subspecies O. s. indica) grown across the Philippines with a variety of white rice and red rice, often considered as a second-class rice
2. (zoology) a species of pig with a savory meat when cooked

• “makan”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “makan”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Manuel, E. Arsenio (1948), Chinese elements in the Tagalog language: with some indication of Chinese influence on other Philippine languages and cultures and an excursion into Austronesian linguistics, Manila: Filipiniana Publications, page 40
• Noceda, Fr. Juan José de; Sanlucar, Fr. Pedro de (1860), Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, compuesto por varios religiosos doctos y graves, y coordinado por…, ultimamente aumentado y corregido por varios religiosos de la Orden de Agustinos calzados.‎^[3] (overall work in Spanish and Classical Tagalog), Manila: Ramírez y Giraudier.