Skip to main content
Indonesian

Indonesian

11 3.0
A person from Indonesia
  • noun
  • /ˌɪndoʊˈniːʒən/
translation icon : indonesio
  • During our travels, we met many Indonesians who were eager to share their traditions.
  • percent of Indonesians
  • majority of Indonesians
  • million Indonesians

After four difficult years of turmoil, the moment that the Indonesians have been fighting for has arrived.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The Indonesian family welcomed us into their home with warm smiles.

  • The acquisition of luxury housing has become a principal investment strategy for wealthy Indonesians.

    Academic text (1993)
  • We have our colleagues who are Indonesian deal with that.

  • We ran into some Indonesians.

  • Over the past decade, negative reports by Indonesians on the program have appeared in the Indonesian press almost weekly.

    Academic text (1995)
  • But whereas Americans are preoccupied with the global terrorist threat, Indonesians are not.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Many Indonesians fear that the war on terrorism is a pretext to weaken Islam.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Indonesians and Filipinos were not allowed to form new political parties during Suharto's and Marcos's rule.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Furthermore, only twenty-seven percent of Indonesians had a favorable opinion of the United States; forty-three percent were undecided.

    Academic text (2002)
  • News editorials, academic seminars, and roadside conversations during this period often discussed globalization as an issue that Indonesians needed to confront.

    Academic text (2007)

Compounds

The southern part of the island of Borneo that belongs to Indonesia, called Kalimantan

Surface Forms

Indonesian singular
Indonesians plural

Morphology

Indonesian = Indonesia (transparent) = Indonesia + an

The person-denoting sense is the regular demonym formed with '-an' on the country name, which is predictable.

Etymology

An Indonesian is a person from Indonesia, a name formed from Indo- 'India' and -nesia 'islands', which once meant 'Indian islands'. So an Indonesian is simply someone who comes from or belongs to that island country.