Etymology

hentak kaki

Today it means: To march on the spot (a drill command sometimes used as form of punishment). Full definition →

Malay hentak kaki
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The story

  1. Malay · borrowed fromhentak kaki
  2. English todayhentak kaki

Unadapted borrowing from Malay hentak kaki (literally “stomp one’s feet”), referring to a punitive military drill command in the Singapore Armed Forces requiring soldiers to march on the spot. The full drill command is hentak kaki, cepat hentak.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.