Etymology

Itu Aba

Today it means: Synonym of Taiping Island. Full definition →

Malay Itu apa? ← Hainanese 黃山馬 /黄山马
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The story

  1. Hainanese · derived from黃山馬 /黄山马
  2. Malay · derived fromItu apa?“What's that?”
  3. English todayItu Aba

Two different origins have been proposed: * From corruption of Malay Itu apa? (“What's that?”) * From corruption of Hainanese 黃山馬 /黄山马 (widuabe)

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.