kawan

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay kawan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaban.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈkawan/ [ˈka.wan]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -awan
• Syllabification: ka‧wan

Noun

kawan (plural kawan-kawan)

1. buddy (partner for a particular activity)
2. friend (person whose company one enjoys)

   Synonyms: bendu, dongan, handai, handai tolan, kamerad, kanca, kanti, karib, kenalan, kolega, kontak, mitra, perepat, rafik, rekan, sahabat, saki, sejawat, sekutu, sobat, sohib, teman, tolan

3. (politics) comrade

   Hanya beberapa orang pemimpin PKI berhasil menyelamatkan diri ke luar negeri, di antaranya anggota Central Comite PKI, Kawan Musso.

   Only several PKI leaders succeeded in saving themselves by traveling abroad, one of them being Comrade Musso, a member of the Central Committee of the PKI.

Affixed terms

• berkawan
• berkawan-kawan
• berkawanan
• kawanan
• memperkawan
• memperkawankan
• mengawan
• mengawani
• perkawanan

Compounds

• kawan baru
• kawan berbuat
• kawan berlomba
• kawan bicara
• kawan dekat
• kawan hidup
• kawan karib
• kawan lama
• kawan sebaya
• kawan sejawat
• kawan sekelas
• kawan sekerja
• kawan seperjuangan
• kawan sepermainan
• kawan setia
• kawan sirih
• kawan tebusan

Further reading

• “kawan”, 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

Javanese

Romanization

kawan

1. romanization of ꦏꦮꦤ꧀

Malay

Alternative forms

• kwn (text messaging)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaban.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkawan/ [ˈka.wan]
• Rhymes: -awan, -wan, -an
• Hyphenation: ka‧wan

Noun

kawan (Jawi spelling کاون, plural kawan-kawan or kawan²)

1. friend (person whose company one enjoys)
2. flock

Synonyms

• (company enjoyed): teman, rakan, sahabat

Derived terms

Affixations

• berkawan
• kawani
• kawankan
• perkawan

Descendants

• > Indonesian: kawan (inherited)

Classifier

kawan

1. Classifier used for animals in flocks.

Pronoun

kawan (Jawi spelling کاون) (Johor)

1. I (personal pronoun)
2. me (direct object of a verb)
3. me (object of a preposition)
4. me (indirect object of a verb)
5. my (belonging to me)

Synonyms

• aku
• saya

See also

Malay personal pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	saya1 aku3	kita4 kami2 & 5 kita orang3 & 5
2nd person	awak1 anda2 awda8 (eng)kau3 kamu3	(2nd person) + semua6 kalian2 (eng)kau orang3
3rd person	dia ia beliau7 -nya2	mereka2 dia orang3

¹ Polite.
² Formal.
³ Informal.
⁴ Includes the listener (inclusive).
⁵ Excludes the listener (exclusive).
⁶ Formality depends on the second person pronoun used.
⁷ Honorific.
⁸ Formal (Brunei).

Notes:

• This table mostly only shows personal pronouns that are commonly used in the standard language and within the Klang Valley area.
• The second person pronouns are often replaced by kinship terms, titles, or the like.
• The enclitic -nya is only used obliquely (as an object or possessor).
• The second person pronoun kamu is usually only used when speaking with younger speakers.

See each entry for more information.

Old Javanese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.wan/
• Rhymes: -wan
• Hyphenation: ka‧wan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaban.

Noun

kawan

1. companion; group

Derived terms

• anakawan
• panakawan
• sakawan
• sakawanan
• samakawan

Descendants

• >? Javanese: ꦏꦮꦤ꧀ (kawan)

Etymology 2

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

kawan

1. a particular kind of fish

Further reading

• "kawan" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Malay kawan, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaban (“companion, member of a group (of animals or people); friend”). Doublet of kaban.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈkawan/ [ˈkaː.wɐn̪]
• Rhymes: -awan
• Syllabification: ka‧wan

Noun

kawan (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜏᜈ᜔)

1. herd; flock; school; swarm (group of animal together, especially of the same kind)

   Synonyms: kamada, grupo, langkay, pulutong, ganado, kuyog, (obsolete) kaban

2. multitude; large number

   Synonym: kulumpol

Derived terms

• kawan-kawan
• magkawan
• magkawan-kawan
• mangawan
• mapangawan
• pangawanan
• pangawanin

Further reading

• “kawan”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “kawan”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Zorc, David Paul (1981), Core Etymological Dictionary of Filipino: Part 2, page 83
• Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2016), Tagalog Borrowings and Cognates, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 103
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*kaban₁”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Anagrams

• kanaw, nakaw

Yogad

Noun

kawán

1. typhoon