Etymology

Nusantara

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Today it means: A region of Southeast Asia: generally used to refer to Maritime Southeast Asia, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines. Full definition →

Malay Nusantara ← Old Javanese nūsāntara
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The story

  1. Old Javanese · derived fromnūsāntara“the outer islands”
  2. Malay · borrowed fromNusantara
  3. English todayNusantara

From Indonesian and Malay Nusantara, ultimately from Old Javanese nūsāntara (“the outer islands”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.