Etymology

balei

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Today it means: a type of hall, station, or large building for public uses, typically found in present-day Malaysia Full definition →

Malay balai ← Proto-Malayic *balay ← Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *balay
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The story

  1. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian · derived from*balay
  2. Proto-Malayic · derived from*balay
  3. Malay · borrowed frombalai
  4. English todaybalei

From Malay balai, from Proto-Malayic *balay, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *balay.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.